tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64481441922653896132024-02-06T20:05:34.585-08:00Huddlestons Abroad!Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-33194862243507501062016-06-03T23:31:00.002-07:002016-06-04T05:46:23.100-07:00Summer DatesToday we start a really sad countdown: one more month left in Prague.<br />
In light of that, we wanted to share with everyone our plans for leaving Prague, traveling through Europe, and then returning to the States.<br />
We are hoping to have some sort of goodbye picnic before we leave (probably July 2), so if you're in Prague, be looking for info on that coming soon!<br />
And to others, if we are ever near you as we travel home, let us know, we'd love to see you!<br />
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July 4: Our final day in Prague, we'll fly out that afternoon around 6pm<br />
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July 4-21: Traveling east through Europe, making stops in Copenhagen, Denmark; Oslo, Norway; Aberdeen, Scotland; Isle of Skye, Scotland; and Reykjavik, Iceland<br />
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July 21-26: Olathe, Kansas with Jadon's parents<br />
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July 26-27: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma visiting friends for one night<br />
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July 27-31: Branson, Missouri on family vacation with Jadon's family<br />
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July 31: Manteno, Illinois where we'll be staying with Brittany's family as we look for somewhere to live in the Bourbonnais area <br />
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We would appreciate your prayers as we make this move, for safety in travel in addition to leaving our home here & our time in transition. Once we're back in the States we will begin looking for jobs, a place to live, a car, etc. so please also keep that in your prayers. We know that God knows the timeline and has everything figured out, so prayers for peace & patience as we enter this next time of unknowns.<br />
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<br />Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-70950184815608554072016-05-17T00:54:00.001-07:002016-05-17T01:00:03.679-07:00April & May Update! Well somehow it has been over a month since our last blog post. So sorry about that!<br />
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So we will do a quick catch-up of the last 6 weeks!<br />
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<b>ENGLISH DRAMA CLUB </b><br />
On April 13, 14, & 15, the English Drama Club performed the play "Game of Tiaras" for 300 audience members! We were thrilled with the large turnout, and the student performers were incredible. The drama club has been such a highlight of our two years here in Prague, and we will miss working with them & watching them entertain and show off their many talents. Here are some pictures from one of our dress rehearsals:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fantastic poster made by one of the drama students</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the end...everybody dies (including the computer, which is why you see the LCD screen)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">19 member cast! </td></tr>
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<b>OUR 4TH ANNIVERSARY</b><br />
On April 14, as well as directing an English Drama Club performance, we also celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary! We took a quick doughnut & Taboo playing break between classes at school as our big celebration this year :)<br />
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<b> </b><b>BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA</b><br />
At the end of April (22nd-24th), we were able to spend a weekend in Bratislava with Brittany's mom. It was fun to add another country to the list as well as to spend time in the Czech Republic's "sister" country. Since Czechoslovakia has not existed since 1993, we were interested to visit Slovakia and see what was similar and different between the two countries - as much as we could in a 2.5 day visit at least.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBs6_wfdxO7kLAnHYJzCkSiCaU-xBeqAZJH4LAKlS0QzxX1L1-ZaV2ILkK78R7RSdzCQbljg_nVe5RaiRu66cuk1ErxOgvPMFxAZXg4sSo0tBu452wZ-nUZ6ksEZwI1-dcSGJvVJyKMSDB/s1600/IMG_0623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBs6_wfdxO7kLAnHYJzCkSiCaU-xBeqAZJH4LAKlS0QzxX1L1-ZaV2ILkK78R7RSdzCQbljg_nVe5RaiRu66cuk1ErxOgvPMFxAZXg4sSo0tBu452wZ-nUZ6ksEZwI1-dcSGJvVJyKMSDB/s320/IMG_0623.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At Devín Castle on the Danube River</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Devín Castle Ruins</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bratislava had the best street art! </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And it was really windy! </td></tr>
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To see more pictures from Bratislava, click <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100195993919107.1073741873.69601108&type=1&l=0afe40af01" target="_blank">here!</a> <br />
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<b>MARSHA'S VISIT</b><br />
Brittany's mom, Marsha, was able to spend April 20-29 with us, and we had a great time traveling, shopping, & exploring Prague with her. Since we were still teaching, she did a lot of exploring on her own during the day and then we got to spend the evenings together. We were also able to go out to celebrate our anniversary, Brittany's birthday, & Mother's Day together while she was here. It was such a blessing to have her come and explore & understand our life here.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Out to dinner at a delicious restaurant in Prague for Brittany's birthday</td></tr>
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<b>SENIOR STUDENTS' LAST DAY</b><br />
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April 29 was the 4th year students last day at school. To celebrate this, there was a small "fair" outside the school, where students sold food, played games, and celebrated the end of their time in high school. The first week of May they did the written portion of their exams, and starting yesterday, they are doing the oral section. Join us in praying for these students that they finish well with their exams & as they head to university!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoP8MUuMFKaIMvqphBdJO0QFB6xW4Ocq5uF7HizqJUMIP_VQ3EP7RsMxvcwtJCVt4AXIXo4K4je3jNWvglNI9ch_Z2rGdbFYrs2JNz-7NilKXqt6BogCNTmzspHG8cWIkGUSRhW-v_wRaI/s1600/13112411_10100197077173257_1649744717_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoP8MUuMFKaIMvqphBdJO0QFB6xW4Ocq5uF7HizqJUMIP_VQ3EP7RsMxvcwtJCVt4AXIXo4K4je3jNWvglNI9ch_Z2rGdbFYrs2JNz-7NilKXqt6BogCNTmzspHG8cWIkGUSRhW-v_wRaI/s320/13112411_10100197077173257_1649744717_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful portrait drawings by <span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Tomáš ;)</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Selling sausages</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJcQFRYOLSfm60Gj5haTMNJm7LCDOw6If3g8-y36TFD78snZkdLS9emKhGVThN3fe8EiMwXiY9DHJ8v8U2WcPjzyXFD_pibCJtdjpXAPay1Z8GrVfp0xgCEQdBxKgNrkdfOpWR8G0ro5XB/s1600/13120668_10100197077058487_106404544_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJcQFRYOLSfm60Gj5haTMNJm7LCDOw6If3g8-y36TFD78snZkdLS9emKhGVThN3fe8EiMwXiY9DHJ8v8U2WcPjzyXFD_pibCJtdjpXAPay1Z8GrVfp0xgCEQdBxKgNrkdfOpWR8G0ro5XB/s320/13120668_10100197077058487_106404544_o.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pie Throwing!</td></tr>
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<b>LAKE BLED, SLOVENIA</b><br />
For Brittany's birthday weekend (May 6-9), we visited the small country of Slovenia, part of former Yugoslavia. We spent our time there at Lake Bled, which turned out to be one of the most beautiful, relaxing trips we've taken. The lake has a path that leads all around it, which we walked taking many picture & coffee breaks, and a castle at the top one of the mountains, which we climbed and explored on Sunday afternoon. Slovenia is our final new country before we leave Prague, so there was a bittersweet feel to this trip, but it was absolutely beautiful, & we highly recommend Slovenia as a travel destination!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bled Island and the Julian Alps</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ-skkYbZQgocVlr7xfJVYczTNRx98zB5Ouv5mc-iP77-yOi6lP_HQlYN90H0kZ88m-kKQAKD2UFgeRQK2XpshwB9Ubu1-EiTAdb-W45tWTiYQ44b0ffJM3eVJxbMoTjLSw_zzA6DRBL1T/s1600/DSCN5313.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ-skkYbZQgocVlr7xfJVYczTNRx98zB5Ouv5mc-iP77-yOi6lP_HQlYN90H0kZ88m-kKQAKD2UFgeRQK2XpshwB9Ubu1-EiTAdb-W45tWTiYQ44b0ffJM3eVJxbMoTjLSw_zzA6DRBL1T/s320/DSCN5313.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the lake from the castle</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIcs7ufkUJSYeJaBvbAr7kfDL5f9wYMnwIAl6ph7hyy07cpjgEqVvUuouJGpw4xJoeQg9ifbwSlkbJr_mYezrIR_cFqB-UaEN2z9Tt7gadOOCKEv80CzcqI67h-Y8AaUaS4teJCM0mHW8-/s1600/IMG_4382.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIcs7ufkUJSYeJaBvbAr7kfDL5f9wYMnwIAl6ph7hyy07cpjgEqVvUuouJGpw4xJoeQg9ifbwSlkbJr_mYezrIR_cFqB-UaEN2z9Tt7gadOOCKEv80CzcqI67h-Y8AaUaS4teJCM0mHW8-/s320/IMG_4382.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
To see more pictures from Lake Bled, click <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100200560303037.1073741874.69601108&type=1&l=a3f1f37ded" target="_blank">here!</a> <br />
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Prayer Requests:<br />
- Senior students as they finish their exams.<br />
- Our time ending in Prague & trying to transition back to the States.<br />
- Travel safety for friends who are visiting us over the next few weeks.<br />
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Praises:<br />
- Spring weather - though it's unpredictable, we have enjoyed many days with no coats!<br />
- Friendships we've made in Prague, and the people who have loved us well here.<br />
- Our friend Katie will be here in one week! Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-83409444809262135222016-04-09T08:18:00.000-07:002016-04-09T08:18:21.863-07:00Kde domov můj? // Where is my home? The Czech national anthem has a fitting name, both for the Czech people throughout their tumultuous history and for those of us who choose to live as ex-pats in this beautiful country. As we have lived here the last two years, invested in people and places, bought furniture, & figured out our European shoe sizes, this has become a question we have asked more and more frequently: "where is my home?" And as it came to decision making time this year, we had a tough choice in front of us.<br />
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A video of the Czech anthem (with Czech, English, and German lyrics): <br />
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In the end it came down to two things for us: personal growth & God's plan.<br />
We know that no matter our location or occupation, God will use us how He needs us, and so we actually felt very little pressure to make the "right" choice in this regard. While we clearly felt God calling us to live overseas, we did not hear such a clear call for this decision. What we did feel was a peace that whatever we chose, God would use. And we really do believe that either choice, in this regard, would have been the "right" one.<br />
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But personally we have felt like these last two years we have been living in a very transitory state, consistently in transition, waiting to return to a life we put on hold. And that is exhausting. So we said either we fully commit: sell our things in the US, rent our own flat in Prague, stay for at least 5 more years, or we go "home."<br />
And neither choice seemed easy.<br />
But in the end we have decided to return to America at the end of this school year. We plan to leave Prague in July and move back to Illinois in August 2016. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVTjOQlyWuPAuUgFMnMJfkI0Hgb_cn_ho0yP0jCAPMvCMz6VjWahzivGFiFt42JPn5faWCBAVTv1-rL6sc-W-F1GZKqgY21ZRPoP6CF2gewAllw5aSDcs_bjCxFmIE8scWcHygF9QefHft/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-04-09+at+4.18.05+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVTjOQlyWuPAuUgFMnMJfkI0Hgb_cn_ho0yP0jCAPMvCMz6VjWahzivGFiFt42JPn5faWCBAVTv1-rL6sc-W-F1GZKqgY21ZRPoP6CF2gewAllw5aSDcs_bjCxFmIE8scWcHygF9QefHft/s400/Screen+Shot+2016-04-09+at+4.18.05+PM.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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After first making this decision, we were really excited looking forward to all the things we've been missing from our home culture these past two years. But now as the months are speeding past us, and leaving becomes both more real and more imminent, we are greiving the many things we will leave behind in our adopted culture. There are people and places that I look at and think, "How can I leave this?"<br />
And so we would very much appreciate your prayers.<br />
If we are returning home to you, we are so looking forward to it. We are excited about it, and hope you are, too. But please don't be offended if it takes us awhile to really seem happy once we return. Yes, we made this choice. Yes, we think it's the right choice. But it is not easy, and at the moment, it does not make me happy.<br />
And if we are leaving you, we are so sad. We have been embraced by many Czech people who we have come to truly love, and if we could take you all with us back to Illinois, we would in a heartbeat. Please know we will miss you. And you are always, always welcome to visit us. And we fully intend to come back and visit you.<br />
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We have heard it said that once you live in another culture, you never really go home again. And so, maybe we, like our Czech people, will continue to ask, "Kde domov můj?" As it is, we will continue to praise God for this opportunity. For the many people we have met and who have loved us during these two years. For the friendships and relationships we'll continue to build even after we leave. And for the Home we can look forward to with Him.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Praha // Prague</td></tr>
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Prayer Requests:<br />
- For our transition time over the next few months as we prepare to return to life in the US.<br />
- Also, once we're back in the States, we will need jobs, a place to live, health insurance, a car, etc. <br />
- The English Drama Club performance is this week!! We perform Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday evenings. So prayers for the students and ourselves as we finally put it all together!<br />
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Praises:<br />
- We had an intern with us through Teach Beyond this past week, and she was amazing.<br />
- Spring weather is here! We had 5 straight days of sunshine this week!<br />
- Brittany's mom is coming to visit in 11 days! Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-56071422246573749962016-04-02T02:27:00.000-07:002016-04-02T02:27:57.273-07:00Easter in Amsterdam! We were lucky enough to spend our Easter vacation (March 23-27) in the Netherlands this year, mostly in Amsterdam but also spending short amounts of time in four surrounding Dutch towns.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghkk7MaCClUf2FsJGTpI0yk4Ks5FaUSWpzdA-xSyZkE0ZecmYR1wTwmrjaKbNclcv21yjI-Tp4j9hlLI_9n-Pt9vY7b5GRE9WZZDdRnYsLg89064gO9DxNL6WtvzbujAvPdbLjN1vjdQ-S/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-03-28+at+11.31.38+AM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghkk7MaCClUf2FsJGTpI0yk4Ks5FaUSWpzdA-xSyZkE0ZecmYR1wTwmrjaKbNclcv21yjI-Tp4j9hlLI_9n-Pt9vY7b5GRE9WZZDdRnYsLg89064gO9DxNL6WtvzbujAvPdbLjN1vjdQ-S/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-03-28+at+11.31.38+AM.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our route: Prague to Amsterdam</td></tr>
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The two main days we spent in Amsterdam (Thursday & Saturday), we spent with Rick Steves and his walking tours. [Side note: If you ever travel to Europe, you MUST consult Rick. He has books, websites, & a free app with walking tours - which is what we use the most. It really improves just wandering around a city.]<br />
We really enjoyed Amsterdam because, unlike a lot of other tourist destination cities, there weren't a ton of "must see" places that we just *had* to visit to really get the feel of the place. We didn't stand in a single line & only paid for one admission ticket for a canal cruise tour. Because of this, we were able to enjoy a more relaxed time wandering the city, stopping in places we thought looked interesting, and eating snacks we thought looked delicious.<br />
All in all, it was a great way to spend our final school vacation.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgelT9JefP-rzwEy1wSVFPSVPjHo0QM4pcaXFSdvh_PyXEScKL2XPwkqxF4nHjEW3-wqF0HPTHksdcPfLbSuIpy0YfOnWzR0FDkgFcNBeni9Gcr0eUw2RdWU028hyVP0lEL9AhF_iiTVEP3/s1600/DSCN4782.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgelT9JefP-rzwEy1wSVFPSVPjHo0QM4pcaXFSdvh_PyXEScKL2XPwkqxF4nHjEW3-wqF0HPTHksdcPfLbSuIpy0YfOnWzR0FDkgFcNBeni9Gcr0eUw2RdWU028hyVP0lEL9AhF_iiTVEP3/s320/DSCN4782.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Dutch favorite: Fries with fritessaus</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMJ0a0tHf8Dmd2t6wb9ggTixc7FPPrPmiaj-4z1WM885Q-PZPyS156tXqpDuxh7twOYJzKpNV9U0fl-pvAji2fBN4lYNzLi2SWp3UegbO50QZRN12lKc5Eo0xiB_RkcTDutdAa9cIPVDwa/s1600/DSCN4955.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMJ0a0tHf8Dmd2t6wb9ggTixc7FPPrPmiaj-4z1WM885Q-PZPyS156tXqpDuxh7twOYJzKpNV9U0fl-pvAji2fBN4lYNzLi2SWp3UegbO50QZRN12lKc5Eo0xiB_RkcTDutdAa9cIPVDwa/s320/DSCN4955.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the canal cruise</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGg5KP91jbLkrJL8OO_XHFDOSqGxmzxxZqj6o_483vRTpx6d1P6lDYI2cd0urjaXBaNTzT0MDDEGi2l7PtnDfzMvzq3RdFRlOMnxwiK5haTFcryjhKzCzzlFXww1vQpUYGWM3DrK8CvVtq/s1600/DSCN4930.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGg5KP91jbLkrJL8OO_XHFDOSqGxmzxxZqj6o_483vRTpx6d1P6lDYI2cd0urjaXBaNTzT0MDDEGi2l7PtnDfzMvzq3RdFRlOMnxwiK5haTFcryjhKzCzzlFXww1vQpUYGWM3DrK8CvVtq/s320/DSCN4930.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the many beautiful canal, bridge, & bike scenes - with a bonus of sunshine & blue skies!</td></tr>
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On Friday, we went on a tour that took us to four different Dutch towns: Zaandam, famous for its old wooden, and still working, windmills; Edam, famous for its cheese and 17th century wealth; Volendaam, an old dutch port town; and Marken, a harbor town on a small island. The tour was fantastic and really gave us an impression about what life in the Netherlands is actually like, more than just life in the international city of Amsterdam.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9AivXTXaTt5cSYjveATXs7Oro_N0kspvOa42WPksLm8p-50wfygNxpvVlljn23QSQuOZF75chfgoivpCGxikpAQqVJlzNxhleHds8fcuFX_yLoZlFybH76HJ2TbeGHP-6WgVg6aUpsq0o/s1600/DSCN4828.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9AivXTXaTt5cSYjveATXs7Oro_N0kspvOa42WPksLm8p-50wfygNxpvVlljn23QSQuOZF75chfgoivpCGxikpAQqVJlzNxhleHds8fcuFX_yLoZlFybH76HJ2TbeGHP-6WgVg6aUpsq0o/s320/DSCN4828.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two of the eight windmills in Zaandam</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8slEKsbl8Y_HDJjxzPRDGkVVqXOfF5tz-KzbFRyL-kcdwlCjcHALxfm8r7HEBwbfynwqVMAuyLVH_vv6EKOzXbi-GYkiFSEsi42u1Q7vy0u7GR6h5ehKGsEkFvo_nhrgg1riALJpATJI2/s1600/DSCN4902.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8slEKsbl8Y_HDJjxzPRDGkVVqXOfF5tz-KzbFRyL-kcdwlCjcHALxfm8r7HEBwbfynwqVMAuyLVH_vv6EKOzXbi-GYkiFSEsi42u1Q7vy0u7GR6h5ehKGsEkFvo_nhrgg1riALJpATJI2/s320/DSCN4902.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marken's Harbor</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfIlRWdfnmSFborB1lcue4yOa6-WM8O8pAJ3HRpE9USM4lB7tdoXvSss_zWwr_Efd7HtPEei_4t3owW13VSks9YCgXuHlbFpbX2UjnET-DLMol5oVI86zsz76TYyYI4EUGERHCT2K44rY6/s1600/DSCN4913.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfIlRWdfnmSFborB1lcue4yOa6-WM8O8pAJ3HRpE9USM4lB7tdoXvSss_zWwr_Efd7HtPEei_4t3owW13VSks9YCgXuHlbFpbX2UjnET-DLMol5oVI86zsz76TYyYI4EUGERHCT2K44rY6/s320/DSCN4913.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the wooden shoe factory & store! </td></tr>
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One thing that really impressed us was how many languages most people could speak, at least the tourist-prone people we interacted with. Everyone spoke Dutch (obviously), English, and Spanish(!) fluently. The tour we took was in both Spanish & English, and it was fun seeing how much (not very) we remembered from our high school & university classes.<br />
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A favorite part of our trip was attending the services at the English Reformed Church for Good Friday & Easter Sunday. We have rarely, if ever, been to a church that is both so traditional but also exudes so much life and joy. The location of the church was also gorgeous. Located in the <span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Begijnhof in central Amsterdam, it is a peaceful space inside a busy city. This church is also thought to be one of the places the Pilgrims stopped to pray before traveling to America!</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtV2JGDD0V23LN4ND7FKJimKlCY9QY5IVXyCcTeSk7dnps718sQZaDgQfSSgQ8DmbYafOhVCjGLbr0eQaLRrnhxylvwOiGy3AFY4eSKvjyKmVAmyZBpWE_66eSF86DblnsfAOzkOvv4fCf/s1600/DSCN4793.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtV2JGDD0V23LN4ND7FKJimKlCY9QY5IVXyCcTeSk7dnps718sQZaDgQfSSgQ8DmbYafOhVCjGLbr0eQaLRrnhxylvwOiGy3AFY4eSKvjyKmVAmyZBpWE_66eSF86DblnsfAOzkOvv4fCf/s320/DSCN4793.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful church in the Begijnhof</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhHFceuggBjOlD6aLlNw3W0BzMqeJDqkwiwECeAHrIkIIh_g2n5X9gEcgxsPXFmB_iUG7BDnxSozeCafgah5aXP3-4A_HJq05-4Ch3ajilBnrZTT1xhngUGIw0YTeet1JfgMD533omNyKC/s1600/IMG_0582.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhHFceuggBjOlD6aLlNw3W0BzMqeJDqkwiwECeAHrIkIIh_g2n5X9gEcgxsPXFmB_iUG7BDnxSozeCafgah5aXP3-4A_HJq05-4Ch3ajilBnrZTT1xhngUGIw0YTeet1JfgMD533omNyKC/s320/IMG_0582.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the church, stained glass featuring the Pilgrims.</td></tr>
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<span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">To see the rest of our pictures from Amsterdam, click <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100186867518487.1073741872.69601108&type=1&l=71b9cad7fa" target="_blank">here!</a></span></span><br />
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<span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Prayer Requests:</span></span><br />
<span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">- English Drama Club! We perform in 11 days!!! So prayers for the actors (and their directors) as we get everything all put together - that it's fun as well as stressful!</span></span><br />
<span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">- We had some American high school students (ages 15-17), part of a CRU group, in our classrooms this past week. Pray that they made connections & that their conversations can lead to something deeper for themselves and for our students. </span></span><br />
<span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><br /></span></span>
<span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Praises:<br />- Spring is here! We have had crazy rainy/cold/windy/sunny/warm/maybe it'll snow weather all in one day, which means spring has finally sprung! The time change and the warmer weather have given us such a positive boost, and we are ready to shake off all the dark winter moods! </span></span><br />
<span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">- We have 3 people planning to come visit us in Prague over the next 3 months, and we are so excited!! We miss our friends and family, and having people visit really makes us feel cared for and missed, and like people actually want to know and understand where we live and what our lives are like. This means a lot to us, and we are so grateful for the 3 who are coming! (And would love to have more!) </span></span>Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-68973165061050582402016-03-19T09:54:00.003-07:002016-03-19T11:14:55.232-07:00Spring Break 2016 - Austrian Alps! Last week (March 7-11) we were able to spend 5 days in the Austrian town of Kaprun, and it was amazing!<br />
For the last year and a half we have done a lot of traveling, but all of it has been to busy cities with lots of tourist attractions, and we are tired! So this spring break we decided we wanted to go somewhere that was not a big city, didn't have many tourist attractions, and was just a beautiful place to relax. Kaprun was perfect.<br />
It's a skiing town surrounded by mountains with lots of hotels, restaurants, and ski lifts in the Salzburg province, and about 70km from the city of Salzburg.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT2XYAOeEa1e6A6kUEaXGot762rQaOYsG8T-naP_66slIrV-5JXPqoLOopcY8SjJfdedchMkpMPnSMI4Q4GyNe_8_Oratay1YlGLSPvyxrBZe7C0wMsbwlzqlUzdotVAPRvqfXMuKVN4dy/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-03-12+at+11.31.58+AM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT2XYAOeEa1e6A6kUEaXGot762rQaOYsG8T-naP_66slIrV-5JXPqoLOopcY8SjJfdedchMkpMPnSMI4Q4GyNe_8_Oratay1YlGLSPvyxrBZe7C0wMsbwlzqlUzdotVAPRvqfXMuKVN4dy/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-03-12+at+11.31.58+AM.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We took 3 trains to get there & 4 trains to get home. About 8-9 hours of travel each way. We watched a lot of movies.</td></tr>
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When we first arrived in Kaprun, we explored the hotel and discovered it was one of those fabulous places where if you didn't want to leave, you didn't have to. There was a restaurant, bar, cafe, pool, sauna, masseuse, etc. all without going outside. And so on our first day, we didn't go outside. And it was wonderful.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIQBX1udAqlWaLVWsvyIGoIPPiMJrLN_mo2eMnL2TzxDftav7M-fn4KCjVezFdM05et-hQuaONcF0A8_s5yftoRp-nC4FX3btlAm5EpJnbznDwmrIwUlBd3djHN8wn98HBqewHuo0rngC0/s1600/IMG_0492.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIQBX1udAqlWaLVWsvyIGoIPPiMJrLN_mo2eMnL2TzxDftav7M-fn4KCjVezFdM05et-hQuaONcF0A8_s5yftoRp-nC4FX3btlAm5EpJnbznDwmrIwUlBd3djHN8wn98HBqewHuo0rngC0/s320/IMG_0492.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from our favorite cafe spot! </td></tr>
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On Tuesday, we decided to explore the town. It was a cloudy day, but not too cold, and we walked around Kaprun, discovering some of it's fun places. There was a castle (though only open on Mondays at 4pm), a church (which you had to pilgrim up at least 100 stairs to get to), and a riverside walk through the heart of the town. For us the highlight was really seeing the different views of the town with the mountains. As flatland Midwesterners, we are excited by hills, so mountains are really amazing!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsCTu2mqU9fgB_2Sm90xdiE4T-ILMX4wRGNDWLfcWgYQGlyZyQu0F2YsoXr8Pl5g1A-TPK_cX_0tfdb33uOzi5G1P92qyxqpTZ-Zbp4Lf2kvtMsOZ1oACha8SieCUW612VBSXG1FLU5Gf7/s1600/DSCN4760.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsCTu2mqU9fgB_2Sm90xdiE4T-ILMX4wRGNDWLfcWgYQGlyZyQu0F2YsoXr8Pl5g1A-TPK_cX_0tfdb33uOzi5G1P92qyxqpTZ-Zbp4Lf2kvtMsOZ1oACha8SieCUW612VBSXG1FLU5Gf7/s320/DSCN4760.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful view of Kaprun from the castle.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Wednesday we decided to get really adventurous and try an Alpine Roller Coaster! It was not a 6 Flags type coaster. It was a single seater, and you controlled your speed yourself. Which for some of us (Brittany), made the trip much scarier and much slower than was originally anticipated. The views on the way up were really beautiful, especially since it was a sunny day, and it was definitely a fun bucket list type of experience.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1rKu_O0s9EwTweErIjlaDI2f0Bx0e-LrnO7n2FHPaMVorPZccyTHFS1Z5W754WgShPW4ycuDMgHLz4dgaQo7owsUKr-Pxw_7VhyGEKwFbxvmYcwYppxkZggxVd8YwjNaeAXSs-rGo66Fi/s1600/IMG_0488.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1rKu_O0s9EwTweErIjlaDI2f0Bx0e-LrnO7n2FHPaMVorPZccyTHFS1Z5W754WgShPW4ycuDMgHLz4dgaQo7owsUKr-Pxw_7VhyGEKwFbxvmYcwYppxkZggxVd8YwjNaeAXSs-rGo66Fi/s320/IMG_0488.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brittany coming into the end of the coaster.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxhTR6fbpMAy7Mdj-U2pcn6RPMN0egTlPAfO3lD5e_7GslCw8Mg1n_xt0rY7KjBpdqiUokVKYsdhBqOrSPkhs5esrwAtyILPWmXGJpp7riGPe-9cos4SdaemgdvEnTy9e2XGlxFGVx4fdv/s1600/IMG_3665.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxhTR6fbpMAy7Mdj-U2pcn6RPMN0egTlPAfO3lD5e_7GslCw8Mg1n_xt0rY7KjBpdqiUokVKYsdhBqOrSPkhs5esrwAtyILPWmXGJpp7riGPe-9cos4SdaemgdvEnTy9e2XGlxFGVx4fdv/s320/IMG_3665.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And, going up! </td></tr>
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Thursday was our biggest day. On Thursday we took a bus to the base of the nearby peak: Kitzsteinhorn. This is (obviously) a very popular skiing spot, but there is also a ticket you can buy to get to the top via ski lifts that doesn't involve the actually skiing pass, so that is what we did. We took three different ski lifts, and about 40 minutes later we made it to the top.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicqSeP5oJSVDdpiMw_noZo3VpJFRJig8tgVZaPOCTxy8FvX8y8J6DxcABMVisQJWa5TqffrK9FN8A1Bom0zKPSSYIUsa3LzCvlAW2iIFRvi4eu_uFzQ2cn_s7Ig4WasEMwkuSQcrd5P9a_/s1600/IMG_3691.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicqSeP5oJSVDdpiMw_noZo3VpJFRJig8tgVZaPOCTxy8FvX8y8J6DxcABMVisQJWa5TqffrK9FN8A1Bom0zKPSSYIUsa3LzCvlAW2iIFRvi4eu_uFzQ2cn_s7Ig4WasEMwkuSQcrd5P9a_/s320/IMG_3691.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The second ski lift & beautiful view!</td></tr>
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The views from the top were amazing. There were many moments of just pure awe as we stood there looking down on the town where we were staying, as well as looking out over other mountain peaks. In moments like these, God's majesty, creativity, and just "big"ness are so obvious. It was really fantastic, and pulling ourselves away from the views was probably the most difficult part of the day.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPaM-OmmaERIn_maB5sirJzd8ody7kRqa9LRfZB33VFfNrE7KccuZEuhg2mIa2QMsjMGiii8NGB3zjlIfffWDNdwtm6H98waamXCVVYT1Jqif9QtrXJX-oiUFS2AaW3_LCT69pSrAcgWIO/s1600/IMG_3706.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPaM-OmmaERIn_maB5sirJzd8ody7kRqa9LRfZB33VFfNrE7KccuZEuhg2mIa2QMsjMGiii8NGB3zjlIfffWDNdwtm6H98waamXCVVYT1Jqif9QtrXJX-oiUFS2AaW3_LCT69pSrAcgWIO/s320/IMG_3706.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We were blessed with such gorgeous weather - we could see so far! This is the view into Kaprun from way up high.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnflIHrKwgEQpQlyCoI_LyafaRKClo4KXmk1BOuauyUzbYKxmNBlMlB_4Pq6Loj6MGtlbprJXoQpDyIZmSpxhbn_ORJQCP9Pi882Cz8arSRrUQlfKsAZGZV0QFgAa2V68rgVemldl2iZL1/s1600/IMG_3732.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnflIHrKwgEQpQlyCoI_LyafaRKClo4KXmk1BOuauyUzbYKxmNBlMlB_4Pq6Loj6MGtlbprJXoQpDyIZmSpxhbn_ORJQCP9Pi882Cz8arSRrUQlfKsAZGZV0QFgAa2V68rgVemldl2iZL1/s320/IMG_3732.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEize7F2OopjE1ZEzk4MLJOnvDGQF2My84AM06lH0Ri6r9e2P334x1mgUN9znZU5DQp0fZUcx837cD09d3MMRIUBSW6N-9m0GAJddP1VhDzix613p6K77eE7fEnOx2nUsF6Ezx04YCx2IoFh/s1600/IMG_3742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEize7F2OopjE1ZEzk4MLJOnvDGQF2My84AM06lH0Ri6r9e2P334x1mgUN9znZU5DQp0fZUcx837cD09d3MMRIUBSW6N-9m0GAJddP1VhDzix613p6K77eE7fEnOx2nUsF6Ezx04YCx2IoFh/s320/IMG_3742.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Aside from these bigger events, most of our week consisted of drinking coffee, eating, doing crosswords, watching movies, sitting in saunas, getting massages, and just finally taking a real, relaxing vacation. It was fantastic.<br />
To see the rest of our pictures, click <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100177480974197.1073741871.69601108&type=1&l=51b7e3c4cd" target="_blank">here!</a> <br />
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Prayer Requests:<br />
- English Drama Club! The performance is in less than 4 weeks, so prayers for our students and ourselves as we continue to prepare.<br />
- We will be traveling again next week for our Easter holidays, so prayers for easy & safe travels. <br />
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Praises: <br />
- We are getting glimpses of spring, and are really looking forward to the warmer weather & sunshine heading our way!<br />
- We had such smooth travels to & from Austria that easily could have been much more stressful. And such a relaxing, rejuvenating time. It definitely felt like a blessed week.Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-20445070939877965202016-03-05T00:59:00.000-08:002016-03-05T00:59:31.840-08:00Ples 2016 - Seniors' Ball! If you were following our time in Prague last year, you will remember the Seniors' Ball, in Czech called Ples, where we waltzed with our students & enjoyed celebrating their accomplishments & creativity.<br />
This year, Ples was on February 26, and it was a fantastic experience! We were much more relaxed this year since we knew what to expect from the evening (though the waltzing still makes us very nervous!).<br />
There is a tendency to compare Ples to Prom in the US, but really it is quite different. It is a much more organized evening, families and teachers are encouraged to attend, there is no dinner served, and the dancing is much more formal (though just as much fun). The students go to an after party at a club after Ples, and that is probably more similar to our Proms, though with more alcohol.<br />
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Here are some pictures to walk you through the fun event:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVsmMFAQaKMQByecaOx6OqM-oJ6N8zslafSeFf_K96EO3IJnVmP5tiHlsSbjxduySsrDupvzRFAKDSvAJ4hJxdoDa5FyF4d7scCsRcQbqnzXaZMIEZ-Fe6O2PwngloSDjjGiCaxmOtn2Tx/s1600/IMG_3502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVsmMFAQaKMQByecaOx6OqM-oJ6N8zslafSeFf_K96EO3IJnVmP5tiHlsSbjxduySsrDupvzRFAKDSvAJ4hJxdoDa5FyF4d7scCsRcQbqnzXaZMIEZ-Fe6O2PwngloSDjjGiCaxmOtn2Tx/s320/IMG_3502.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When you first arrive, you have the schedule for the evening waiting on the table. It's all in Czech (obviously), but this gives an idea of how organized the evening is.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjdr55Q3HxlmiXcPj_cynV9JVNl2BlAjQc0wkM1JHJ9fbLkt0iT-qKloUmYtCzD9frDaU8fcz_ZFPN4PwWCyjhWSkDimgQEWqd9k2PErWkFMwtIq9e1d-emtIH338nH2A0ArEbTGPVS0Uv/s1600/IMG_3504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjdr55Q3HxlmiXcPj_cynV9JVNl2BlAjQc0wkM1JHJ9fbLkt0iT-qKloUmYtCzD9frDaU8fcz_ZFPN4PwWCyjhWSkDimgQEWqd9k2PErWkFMwtIq9e1d-emtIH338nH2A0ArEbTGPVS0Uv/s320/IMG_3504.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">To begin, each 4th year class does a creative walk-in with their class teachers.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVkhTMqrzlpjcGX9_ZCz_VIp9SiK3nwATWptu-0f1o32aqlgIvFR1hc5VBSncC_lR3ZrF9-l9dHt2PjnyK7-n4xCUdJ2IRsNq9POL0CwulIyiUXcOelmU19fS_LvV1kaHiDgn7dz5BLQys/s1600/IMG_3512.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVkhTMqrzlpjcGX9_ZCz_VIp9SiK3nwATWptu-0f1o32aqlgIvFR1hc5VBSncC_lR3ZrF9-l9dHt2PjnyK7-n4xCUdJ2IRsNq9POL0CwulIyiUXcOelmU19fS_LvV1kaHiDgn7dz5BLQys/s320/IMG_3512.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Students are then given sash, a different color for each of the 5 different classes.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXprlv3xXaD_tRVZoXFZF0py98Sa0jv4Yuxdy4nD0oJ6Bfz8GcN16RnflyzH6J3XH-avTxCAQk_0Sjl9aA24xVghggICCkwGYfmBx2NGQ6h1lznv8y6rb_RJCxAzgRB2q6nBd5KZDRieJc/s1600/IMG_3517.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXprlv3xXaD_tRVZoXFZF0py98Sa0jv4Yuxdy4nD0oJ6Bfz8GcN16RnflyzH6J3XH-avTxCAQk_0Sjl9aA24xVghggICCkwGYfmBx2NGQ6h1lznv8y6rb_RJCxAzgRB2q6nBd5KZDRieJc/s320/IMG_3517.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Group pictures are taken of each class, as well as individual pictures of each student.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhghCp9czXRzEYwrt7KsrqyX1cTJxk4WUoEFIVnqgq76Xr60tua9hOvQbly-iuWfUjg9TtflhXDzQ8vfOg1slcxtRKQ1YxZv3B7S1kG_l9y0ZB8G7e2ZjD4YYFRbLglgRK_xxZc6JTqr7mE/s1600/IMG_3522.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhghCp9czXRzEYwrt7KsrqyX1cTJxk4WUoEFIVnqgq76Xr60tua9hOvQbly-iuWfUjg9TtflhXDzQ8vfOg1slcxtRKQ1YxZv3B7S1kG_l9y0ZB8G7e2ZjD4YYFRbLglgRK_xxZc6JTqr7mE/s320/IMG_3522.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Then they walk around with these giant parachutes & people throw money into them! We saved our small Czech coins all year for this event. They make a LOT of money from this, which is then used for a class party at the end of the year.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ1VD1Tm9VF3D3yYq1txw69x_FE6pQ1E9w9FkZpFZVXUi07h-MeKQlKTEgRQ8SQtdMR4kzR8vrDCr2xZWkVUZY1Rw2fWpSSdgCCxPKu_dLYqtZktr1qMNrhYY482RhmtN_5FIS4SEpC3Tb/s1600/IMG_3529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ1VD1Tm9VF3D3yYq1txw69x_FE6pQ1E9w9FkZpFZVXUi07h-MeKQlKTEgRQ8SQtdMR4kzR8vrDCr2xZWkVUZY1Rw2fWpSSdgCCxPKu_dLYqtZktr1qMNrhYY482RhmtN_5FIS4SEpC3Tb/s320/IMG_3529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My student waltz partner, Richard. We were arguably the best dancers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaqYPPvWnf4C2BZ_5lOsAVFWqpjj6BLfpFnQcuDDT4OeWpPsYP6fTk08W_mTza4s8905UseEMRcVUaQpH6HL1GUnlaY277o8_rG_9vCndn_R841ZJiAmHZU0SEIPEAZLvLxc7Ke2wzwQZn/s1600/IMG_3554.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaqYPPvWnf4C2BZ_5lOsAVFWqpjj6BLfpFnQcuDDT4OeWpPsYP6fTk08W_mTza4s8905UseEMRcVUaQpH6HL1GUnlaY277o8_rG_9vCndn_R841ZJiAmHZU0SEIPEAZLvLxc7Ke2wzwQZn/s320/IMG_3554.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jadon with his student dance partner, Viktoria. I love this picture! [Shout out to Tereza Kar<span>áskov</span><span>á who took all the waltzing pictures for us!]</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0jEZJhZKzHYe318qng6s-_BOI_T6dUt21g-8hCuHs6wssgnxj5q12vAoTdFBP6O6GqZ0Joq4glF_zBM5EGceQVAttUASuu6EatSBKtGBZzhoW5YHIeTKRz1dRIxH7doxMl2K-XeujMwFC/s1600/IMG_3560.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0jEZJhZKzHYe318qng6s-_BOI_T6dUt21g-8hCuHs6wssgnxj5q12vAoTdFBP6O6GqZ0Joq4glF_zBM5EGceQVAttUASuu6EatSBKtGBZzhoW5YHIeTKRz1dRIxH7doxMl2K-XeujMwFC/s320/IMG_3560.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Then there are a few hours of dancing in this gorgeous building - which is actually underground! We danced to more waltzes, polkas, and everything in between. Such a fun time!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRHLIs6Imt4DLOWWjOgIdB2F5FrPFpcWpfzP3Dj4ZHo2cjwVRggQFWmuO9ZQOwY1JzWCr-qdNo5iq7MDKRGfNbm6bdgpkcXzAQnzv8NLpNHMSGuzFTiBWr-iMl34V2psVrH11gpXqHjdEG/s1600/IMG_3572.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRHLIs6Imt4DLOWWjOgIdB2F5FrPFpcWpfzP3Dj4ZHo2cjwVRggQFWmuO9ZQOwY1JzWCr-qdNo5iq7MDKRGfNbm6bdgpkcXzAQnzv8NLpNHMSGuzFTiBWr-iMl34V2psVrH11gpXqHjdEG/s320/IMG_3572.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">To end the night, each class presents a "midnight surprise" dance. We had everything from Star Wars, to Grease, to the history of dance, to an aerobics class. They are so fun & creative!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg78FHUtAYpVsnPv2g1Zj6ptz3TTXRyp2vXLERcyaOUBRMJUOjY9QDeHfzIX7JXUVzU_z2SlI_byoYzHrUsqihpauD97rek7vkp90Joqg3kbvZhZpOlnzMHPlGrV5t96AZpqxKlF9iCw3MN/s1600/IMG_3581.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg78FHUtAYpVsnPv2g1Zj6ptz3TTXRyp2vXLERcyaOUBRMJUOjY9QDeHfzIX7JXUVzU_z2SlI_byoYzHrUsqihpauD97rek7vkp90Joqg3kbvZhZpOlnzMHPlGrV5t96AZpqxKlF9iCw3MN/s320/IMG_3581.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ending the night around 11:30pm. So much fun! Definitely a highlight of both our years here!</td></tr>
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The senior students are in school for two more months, and then in May then will take their exams. Please join us in praying for our 4th year students during this stressful time in their school year. We pray that they will be able to study and retain the information, that they can go into their exams calm and prepared, and that they will also have relaxed moments as they finish their time in high school.<br />
<br />
Congratulations Maturita Class of '16! Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-23993667706580144712016-02-12T06:52:00.001-08:002016-02-12T06:52:48.506-08:00December & January Update in (mid)February! It has been SO long since we've updated on here, and if you've been faithfully checking to see how we're doing, we apologize.<br />
Aside from our Christmas vacation travels, however, not much as been going on recently.<br />
It's winter, & we Midwesterners are good at staying inside & keeping warm. So we've pretty much just been going to & from school, and then getting home & putting on our sweatpants & refusing to leave the flat again until the next morning. But we will do our best to provide a brief update on our lives.<br />
<br />
**First, Christmas vacation. We were lucky enough to spend 11 of our 12 days of Christmas break in Italy. We began in Rome, and then traveled to Florence & Venice.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQoA5Lgt9RPOXJTtcI8QMqTDk1J-WLoQCpThfEf-wFwRr0OscSesIMFGo24Ex8sk1m0ZssmVfAEY6b1VzJmU6FcKSRKJRGifGIsZsvOdWZ_oP65w8lNq6ZCsMlrR3mspdkEgEAhbXbJk5O/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-10-27+at+8.12.41+AM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQoA5Lgt9RPOXJTtcI8QMqTDk1J-WLoQCpThfEf-wFwRr0OscSesIMFGo24Ex8sk1m0ZssmVfAEY6b1VzJmU6FcKSRKJRGifGIsZsvOdWZ_oP65w8lNq6ZCsMlrR3mspdkEgEAhbXbJk5O/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-10-27+at+8.12.41+AM.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our route through Italy. We flew to & from, but all our other travel was done via train.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This was a fantastic experience! About halfway through our trip, however, both of us got sick, so there were definitely days we would have preferred our beds to the traveling. We did become experts at the Italian pharmacy, though, so that was a bonus ;)<br />
<br />
We took a bunch of pictures, and if you haven't seen them, you can see them all here:<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100158273531067.1073741867.69601108&type=1&l=f888fc08b7" target="_blank">Pictures from Rome!</a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100158280457187.1073741868.69601108&type=1&l=d952bf8151" target="_blank">Pictures from Florence! </a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100158284653777.1073741869.69601108&type=1&l=05d513fc8a" target="_blank">Pictures from Venice! </a><br />
<br />
**After Christmas, most of January was spent trying to get back into the swing of things at school. The semester here ends at the end of January, so we were getting all our grades together, and have just started the new semester this month.<br />
<br />
**We have been able to go to some fun concerts and shows, one of them being an amazing show: "Best of Broadway!" here in Prague. Four American
Broadway stars & a full orchestra performed songs from 20 Broadway
musicals! It was such a fun evening!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh32ayYyur6v6D0L8NVDL6bk7TV7X5P-7Y-giitdCKUgv3F74RMe7nroCFM4bL3oKz5jScwBzBSmzQv8fn3bs8VwJiPFhu5blgMGj4OqZD9raEX0tpM4GRbeRS-PaJPpPWLs43sGgYnX9E/s1600/12647164_10100166971649967_221753626678018197_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh32ayYyur6v6D0L8NVDL6bk7TV7X5P-7Y-giitdCKUgv3F74RMe7nroCFM4bL3oKz5jScwBzBSmzQv8fn3bs8VwJiPFhu5blgMGj4OqZD9raEX0tpM4GRbeRS-PaJPpPWLs43sGgYnX9E/s320/12647164_10100166971649967_221753626678018197_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Four of the musicals featured in the show.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
**English Drama Club has also started up again, & we are currently rehearsing for our spring play "Game of Tiaras." It's a mix between King Lear, Game of Thrones, & Disney. So you know it'll be interesting! We've been rehearsing once a week, and our show is coming up in mid-April. We're really excited to keep working on it & perfecting it over the next eight weeks!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV66gAFDYTAU2PhTigX364W9Hn5TqXDjFJ5DrMEwWgBeVLq7dXyQnAx9U-qEq5TRm71LG5HnUvQMyG2981q63Z1VIk18sF6nUgyw-N4juS0PAe117LQ7lu_pKAQnapPoSkcnYwRjsVAYYV/s1600/12662430_10100167324597657_1122460505078121304_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV66gAFDYTAU2PhTigX364W9Hn5TqXDjFJ5DrMEwWgBeVLq7dXyQnAx9U-qEq5TRm71LG5HnUvQMyG2981q63Z1VIk18sF6nUgyw-N4juS0PAe117LQ7lu_pKAQnapPoSkcnYwRjsVAYYV/s320/12662430_10100167324597657_1122460505078121304_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here we have Snow White about to be executed while Cinderella & Ellie (Elsa from Frozen) look on. The King, his henchman Smeagol, & the executioner are also pictured.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
**And you know we love film awards season! So one of the places we actually have been venturing in the cold is the movie theater! We've seen a movie every weekend for the last few weeks, which has been really fun. We're also doing movie related projects at school with our students and will be discussing the Oscars with them next week. <br />
We only have 3 more films to go to see all the movies nominated for Best Picture this year! We're hoping to stay up (it'll start at 2am here) and watch the show live at the end of the month! <br />
<br />
Prayer Requests:<br />
- Health. This is definitely cold & flu season. We've both been slightly sick since Christmas, but nothing too bad. Hoping it stays that way!<br />
- Relationships with friends, colleagues, & students here in Prague. We are making lasting friendships, and hope to continue to do so.<br />
- Guidance in future decisions.<br />
<br />
Praises:<br />
- All the traveling we've been able to do & will get to do in the future. Spring & Easter breaks are coming up in March, & we're looking forward to hitting the road again!<br />
- God's continued presence in our lives & the joy that comes when we hear His voice & seek His guidance.Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-25955374948401140482015-11-29T09:36:00.002-08:002016-03-19T10:09:51.323-07:00Four Thanksgivings and a Christmas MarketA very common question we get here is if we are homesick. This question comes up most frequently during this time of year, especially with Thanksgiving, which obviously is not celebrated in the Czech Republic. And even though Thanksgiving here feels very different than Thanksgiving at home - working a full day on Thanksgiving day being one of the largest differences - we have been blessed with multiple communities who have helped it feel like a time of thankfulness in a place that now feels like home.<br />
This year between October 24 & November 26, we were able to be part of four different Thanksgiving dinners with four different groups here in Prague. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWiKJba-frFtTKR2-fyHyQ8hv2qv_Metp_UBXDZsZtRMUVoMn2fJbZhV_Jho-XmAiOag6iurphGioJFhjA1AYpnqUkp3yxm4-ieYJaidAnhQz4A2L2xfnpG3q1_yQjpwXzYszopG_sNSc/s1600/IMG_2885.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWiKJba-frFtTKR2-fyHyQ8hv2qv_Metp_UBXDZsZtRMUVoMn2fJbZhV_Jho-XmAiOag6iurphGioJFhjA1AYpnqUkp3yxm4-ieYJaidAnhQz4A2L2xfnpG3q1_yQjpwXzYszopG_sNSc/s320/IMG_2885.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first Thanksgiving on October 24 was with our Teach Beyond team (minus 3 people who couldn't be with us). These are all the Americans & Canadians who work with Teach Beyond & live in the Czech Republic.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVKEfIefUa9IwQg86ZISLtcenOFd4YJVKW3GDTXVzOFIbhbPIZHTpkSmm-e6Ptz7ZU7YuH1l3BUXoXd01l3H2Ln86Pjjht6kmwu_E10G9c81Q1Qv4BuL06Ufji5ybtdP0S2phe3g22A_eE/s1600/DSCN4193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVKEfIefUa9IwQg86ZISLtcenOFd4YJVKW3GDTXVzOFIbhbPIZHTpkSmm-e6Ptz7ZU7YuH1l3BUXoXd01l3H2Ln86Pjjht6kmwu_E10G9c81Q1Qv4BuL06Ufji5ybtdP0S2phe3g22A_eE/s320/DSCN4193.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Next, on November 6-8 we were on a retreat with the ESL teachers who work with Teach Beyond. There are 8 of us Americans who work in Czech & Hungarian schools, and we were able to have some spiritual rest & renewal as well as a delicious Thanksgiving dinner together. </td></tr>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFERfU8RxSU6gIIyojBChKOhqhr3tqjvIO1aalJiUx6JG_kNBcKI3vSvQP0NG1jKsZc06xf3nXb0Qtp9JFSsXGY7GXGSipqZtoFJwb836QBPM7sxk5WXRnWgnFKINEyl4RGBdNaRtSuGvs/s1600/IMG_3036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFERfU8RxSU6gIIyojBChKOhqhr3tqjvIO1aalJiUx6JG_kNBcKI3vSvQP0NG1jKsZc06xf3nXb0Qtp9JFSsXGY7GXGSipqZtoFJwb836QBPM7sxk5WXRnWgnFKINEyl4RGBdNaRtSuGvs/s320/IMG_3036.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On November 21, our friend Shara hosted and prepared ALL the food for our third Thanksgiving dinner. This meal was especially interesting & wonderful because there were only 4 Americans. The other 8 guests were all Czechs, and for some of them this was their first American Thanksgiving meal ever.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjac-8n_C9xtsJQvFGxsyf8ep5aNnMjA3Prps9kRPN-LROurAix-0D1B3vPmHitX6iaCr6H7Kvff2QENEpVU9bTmMLcr-QME7DiEZHGlWocwpxKi6XQuLsnA_uetezjp9J6zb4-ksOqOhH5/s1600/12289749_10107400123100864_4364181077450106760_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjac-8n_C9xtsJQvFGxsyf8ep5aNnMjA3Prps9kRPN-LROurAix-0D1B3vPmHitX6iaCr6H7Kvff2QENEpVU9bTmMLcr-QME7DiEZHGlWocwpxKi6XQuLsnA_uetezjp9J6zb4-ksOqOhH5/s320/12289749_10107400123100864_4364181077450106760_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finally, on Thanksgiving day, we shared a wonderful meal with our Bible study group (and some other friends). <span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption" data-gt="{"timeline_og_unit_click":"1","app_id":"124024574287414","action_type_id":"282366618453208","object_type":"instapp:photo","unit_id":"447280888645770","og_ref":"ogexp","is_intentional":"1"}">Countries represented: Czech Republic, USA, Scotland, Ireland, England, the Netherlands, Singapore, Kuwait, Honduras, and Ghana. It's a constant joy to be a part of such an international community!</span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption" data-gt="{"timeline_og_unit_click":"1","app_id":"124024574287414","action_type_id":"282366618453208","object_type":"instapp:photo","unit_id":"447280888645770","og_ref":"ogexp","is_intentional":"1"}"><br /></span></span></td></tr>
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Now that it is the first weekend of Advent, this also means that Europe's Christmas markets are in full swing! We were lucky enough to have a friend in from out of town this weekend as an excuse to head down into the touristy areas & soak up the festivities!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrpc6al89DoH6-ax11k62_RWAIDH8qwH-RS-2rF-ka6PC5_8xXeHTKvcF-gZR5BN9G8w3FOMNCZUdjjUILY5q9VFy-OT7-d46Sfib384HAAeMmQw0PoavIZD8fRjfToCJcMz8hst5-BdvC/s1600/IMG_3038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrpc6al89DoH6-ax11k62_RWAIDH8qwH-RS-2rF-ka6PC5_8xXeHTKvcF-gZR5BN9G8w3FOMNCZUdjjUILY5q9VFy-OT7-d46Sfib384HAAeMmQw0PoavIZD8fRjfToCJcMz8hst5-BdvC/s320/IMG_3038.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prague's largest Christmas market is in Old Town Square</td></tr>
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Our friend (and Teach Beyond teammate) Danielle was able to come to Prague for the Christmas market, so the five of us enjoyed some time in Prague's Old Town Square.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOrxhdQTgYohSLVT1M_DBzt8PTNLy5hEK3qQURjWxB-lQgSg5fqqS439VFbVFFMF-N2ZSsAq_ZSexB7KiGmjdJn8VePPD-n_2taBVP15AxPmcM6hroGOWuRpLzjVz49J1uAQX_vMelBDVj/s1600/IMG_3042.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOrxhdQTgYohSLVT1M_DBzt8PTNLy5hEK3qQURjWxB-lQgSg5fqqS439VFbVFFMF-N2ZSsAq_ZSexB7KiGmjdJn8VePPD-n_2taBVP15AxPmcM6hroGOWuRpLzjVz49J1uAQX_vMelBDVj/s320/IMG_3042.jpg" width="239" /></a> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We are really looking forward to this Advent season, and our prayers are with all our friends & family as we REJOICE in what this whole season means! </div>
<br />Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-2690891657138754532015-11-20T07:45:00.000-08:002015-11-20T07:50:30.553-08:0030 Days Where We LiveFor the last 30(ish) days, Brittany has been doing an Instagram challenge to take one picture each day showing everyday life where she lives. We thought we'd share that on here to give people a better idea of what our day-to-day lives look like here. So mostly you'll see a lot of school & public transportation :) Enjoy!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixVbEW4ToWg2nTRcby1KFL7GeIbPqPtfN2SIFDNu6eAUT4tZtJV7fZwtyvuEpTxXpdpXii5S-6qBaX4C2EH6i-QbuYw9wKD-rRT7moMMit2eICIFaaZKAPzh1ZzVZInN0JYOQu0XEcma7h/s1600/IMG_2840.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixVbEW4ToWg2nTRcby1KFL7GeIbPqPtfN2SIFDNu6eAUT4tZtJV7fZwtyvuEpTxXpdpXii5S-6qBaX4C2EH6i-QbuYw9wKD-rRT7moMMit2eICIFaaZKAPzh1ZzVZInN0JYOQu0XEcma7h/s320/IMG_2840.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day One: The view from our balcony</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-NykbFmJ8dvtYmFyllrkrd7FxJIgskDeMl09rtkT-EjidgqEp-IH_-915Kgi79F7uXS6WVzDab7qYW6MoO3zfKvK3mBxkEqhHWOwFlVkE4YsH0HImPBs1-mcnPmrrqtroY-FcXweWzYS0/s1600/IMG_2844.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-NykbFmJ8dvtYmFyllrkrd7FxJIgskDeMl09rtkT-EjidgqEp-IH_-915Kgi79F7uXS6WVzDab7qYW6MoO3zfKvK3mBxkEqhHWOwFlVkE4YsH0HImPBs1-mcnPmrrqtroY-FcXweWzYS0/s320/IMG_2844.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Two: Our local pošta (post office) - so if you ever get mail from us, it comes from here!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSed_xDEpa4GKDaKpoVdWS91YdGOvZ1FpuI8yiDHiBGmUgKIQI-fnZ6axpSj2KpZrQAIxsm0lrYjeFJz4dHmhzPb5GKFdxifrrfVY2gIFeSZl4PqsmN9WXu9pDJ3RGrygbRVtSC5EdtYFU/s1600/IMG_2846.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSed_xDEpa4GKDaKpoVdWS91YdGOvZ1FpuI8yiDHiBGmUgKIQI-fnZ6axpSj2KpZrQAIxsm0lrYjeFJz4dHmhzPb5GKFdxifrrfVY2gIFeSZl4PqsmN9WXu9pDJ3RGrygbRVtSC5EdtYFU/s320/IMG_2846.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Three: 12 Czech weirdos led by 2 American weirdos = English Drama Club. Love it!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNVlflyExDG1UlyaEqhFVmvsajtQH0jfFSgjVN5hAVeghQAVD_zJ1DYeuU0WXEcZO5tDcJ5a1rwohmS_MxuHdAsQcHbsBFCvgh07oGhAptsas8uIViVolCl0LwE-t7dZitrCH8026c7Laq/s1600/IMG_2849.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNVlflyExDG1UlyaEqhFVmvsajtQH0jfFSgjVN5hAVeghQAVD_zJ1DYeuU0WXEcZO5tDcJ5a1rwohmS_MxuHdAsQcHbsBFCvgh07oGhAptsas8uIViVolCl0LwE-t7dZitrCH8026c7Laq/s320/IMG_2849.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Four: The lane between our school & the metro. Beautiful on a wet fall day!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd5WG3JNvwub52TRLIt29ZTRowcIT75tpv_e3Q5fqKgzqnr1uMtZlSjahK3aO58kzhyphenhyphenatvlxqLLBiEMnd8JcOJMEgVBIe4OqoVPe-m_wP43Jz49Gv_BRcIyvQcz5kMxHyD1MQvsdlZrjeq/s1600/12278026_10100146235954467_72426368_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd5WG3JNvwub52TRLIt29ZTRowcIT75tpv_e3Q5fqKgzqnr1uMtZlSjahK3aO58kzhyphenhyphenatvlxqLLBiEMnd8JcOJMEgVBIe4OqoVPe-m_wP43Jz49Gv_BRcIyvQcz5kMxHyD1MQvsdlZrjeq/s320/12278026_10100146235954467_72426368_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Five: Behind these willows is our apartment building. So this is literally where we live.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg6ugS4DRM6-JzxLADcAlAho15zM-L99YfuBi4CZbPYvnpWhs0OTg_5cysoufLaCvluCMFAi2jnJeDkJqKbYSAt0w8_MEREe-hxvzgcjFWDj-NMMcIH26Vcl86PsgIUE7LjQ3aMr3i-vr_/s1600/IMG_2857.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg6ugS4DRM6-JzxLADcAlAho15zM-L99YfuBi4CZbPYvnpWhs0OTg_5cysoufLaCvluCMFAi2jnJeDkJqKbYSAt0w8_MEREe-hxvzgcjFWDj-NMMcIH26Vcl86PsgIUE7LjQ3aMr3i-vr_/s320/IMG_2857.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Six: Riding the green line metro - it's similar to an underground subway.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt5Htk8hT1CrN1ZdjtPmm4NWdrG1u8qiBe3LGM8CovHhuO4eKzUja5iqBR5MKKW1-RILV-bICeiU2ATqifwQhQwm_bKe1HL36jTNB6Gp9JRaFjRLF4vQhhcld4lG7tfrHN9RCmQOWBZGiK/s1600/IMG_2862.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt5Htk8hT1CrN1ZdjtPmm4NWdrG1u8qiBe3LGM8CovHhuO4eKzUja5iqBR5MKKW1-RILV-bICeiU2ATqifwQhQwm_bKe1HL36jTNB6Gp9JRaFjRLF4vQhhcld4lG7tfrHN9RCmQOWBZGiK/s320/IMG_2862.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Seven: Our friendly neighborhood bus stop - about a 2.5 minute walk from our flat. Really all my pictures should be either at school or on/waiting for public transport. That's mostly all we do.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCcOrP7SO8rZh7AaO-SZBwP5knIJxtEqBhcslaNkmZfuHi6pjo9Pv3Ysyegsl3T0dGIGkNW1VDRKbXDdQy6xpdePT5wHUj4fTnih6s0-R4ni8Ll9oylzf5_YkvMpFyONNNnU8BL8N4FIbi/s1600/IMG_2872.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCcOrP7SO8rZh7AaO-SZBwP5knIJxtEqBhcslaNkmZfuHi6pjo9Pv3Ysyegsl3T0dGIGkNW1VDRKbXDdQy6xpdePT5wHUj4fTnih6s0-R4ni8Ll9oylzf5_YkvMpFyONNNnU8BL8N4FIbi/s320/IMG_2872.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Eight: In the grocery store - how we buy our bread all out in the open. If we're lucky, it's fresh and warm. If we're not so lucky, it's been sitting out for a few hours & isn't so fresh and warm. This day we were lucky.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYoYycq8OmD1uVJrsy_ni8_mqGRZihcg1ONhvAcoyb9QfqAmiPp2XcVznMcD2hYCgC_EVM07Moz6fzaHbhWZ1rtGsheBpAJK-_EGJucaqvvY7KIcIVsfvY8PkzKp9YS5XWAeYxFemdmPJ/s1600/IMG_2858.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYoYycq8OmD1uVJrsy_ni8_mqGRZihcg1ONhvAcoyb9QfqAmiPp2XcVznMcD2hYCgC_EVM07Moz6fzaHbhWZ1rtGsheBpAJK-_EGJucaqvvY7KIcIVsfvY8PkzKp9YS5XWAeYxFemdmPJ/s320/IMG_2858.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Nine: Sunset at the bus stop</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0rDH0Po4GUwEh6vijcv93NoC3p9HgKAWiAPSjrOsL6Hx8CZtlFQhYNCTxrNtXPC5MJEguYv-bgWfcLQ3kdgRsKtNesjEfASDgMJtZo9BVtvf32Qx_wkMi_EGJz7DTFSqpytdQ-UqVPjXv/s1600/IMG_2879.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0rDH0Po4GUwEh6vijcv93NoC3p9HgKAWiAPSjrOsL6Hx8CZtlFQhYNCTxrNtXPC5MJEguYv-bgWfcLQ3kdgRsKtNesjEfASDgMJtZo9BVtvf32Qx_wkMi_EGJz7DTFSqpytdQ-UqVPjXv/s320/IMG_2879.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Ten: Our favorite movie theater!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl8nFUk9qYsWOcecXKKUZQpmB5uf1mCx6X4WrbTHFaC_BZ6pf83excxWzUTJH73eZAPd5EvlcpBQawlEL6II1nTvNs7hGuR8OdbLG00ZYc6nQwz9Ew0W8TSI6zvSzxhmssfnj5mq6FSfdF/s1600/IMG_2887.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl8nFUk9qYsWOcecXKKUZQpmB5uf1mCx6X4WrbTHFaC_BZ6pf83excxWzUTJH73eZAPd5EvlcpBQawlEL6II1nTvNs7hGuR8OdbLG00ZYc6nQwz9Ew0W8TSI6zvSzxhmssfnj5mq6FSfdF/s320/IMG_2887.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Eleven: Our street sign (and the fence it's on).</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGGtC0-h81uaO3UAKZny3h_els3PWtTp5Bm_Op_kTh7-psiKR0JyjHVH9nK16Q1fU__M5EToo8zR0K-8Ch80RB3TvYeqR8z0RtA1rw_omc9XtFoNvr76LChvJYxET4D1CNM6b1JRech8Fw/s1600/IMG_2891.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGGtC0-h81uaO3UAKZny3h_els3PWtTp5Bm_Op_kTh7-psiKR0JyjHVH9nK16Q1fU__M5EToo8zR0K-8Ch80RB3TvYeqR8z0RtA1rw_omc9XtFoNvr76LChvJYxET4D1CNM6b1JRech8Fw/s320/IMG_2891.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Twelve: This was on a Sunday afternoon that we spent enjoying some great orchestra music in this beautiful building, The Rudolfinum.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1-cQC6yOqTt15d3R8XhMSrcM_GUgMD93ddBZyumGNKp94mky-oAiqtSa2xc4SAYlIiia_jb6__H2CUHlNmvQSkwE8367-e0fpPfxcdLO6UY3dZ0Yr90glF8RBvCLbs4UJLaawxjj7mWI1/s1600/IMG_2903.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1-cQC6yOqTt15d3R8XhMSrcM_GUgMD93ddBZyumGNKp94mky-oAiqtSa2xc4SAYlIiia_jb6__H2CUHlNmvQSkwE8367-e0fpPfxcdLO6UY3dZ0Yr90glF8RBvCLbs4UJLaawxjj7mWI1/s320/IMG_2903.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Thirteen: Once a week Brittany meets for English lessons with the manager of our local Starbucks. Aside from the obvious perk of making a new friend, she also gets paid in lattes.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrTpLl3nMoVcaFLsMBbNG3G5QECwUyq83SuuUouswNenel7aICqVum0SeLloiqslYmvrbuIXpD_XsAhjHvtqkPbEhT8-U-MmcZK9BVWBjPPD6yhzgpe4s1J990w8fr95jUjIp10UrfSV2J/s1600/IMG_2906.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrTpLl3nMoVcaFLsMBbNG3G5QECwUyq83SuuUouswNenel7aICqVum0SeLloiqslYmvrbuIXpD_XsAhjHvtqkPbEhT8-U-MmcZK9BVWBjPPD6yhzgpe4s1J990w8fr95jUjIp10UrfSV2J/s320/IMG_2906.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Fourteen: Out near a favorite restaurant after meeting a friend for coffee & talks of travel.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfpKIL1kQIO2rKGlBexR9hV6gEXzgc9Xaxm6rLfu49WheID2lp3Lttb-U1WqoCFoUFmQAgkoSknPz0CEuAdkZc5zpg-EHLRtp8bonJT2kEjfIa3tuvMoK12igJT4ANZAm4OyXIMkFOb1fC/s1600/IMG_2967.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfpKIL1kQIO2rKGlBexR9hV6gEXzgc9Xaxm6rLfu49WheID2lp3Lttb-U1WqoCFoUFmQAgkoSknPz0CEuAdkZc5zpg-EHLRtp8bonJT2kEjfIa3tuvMoK12igJT4ANZAm4OyXIMkFOb1fC/s320/IMG_2967.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Fifteen: Brittany's office at school that she shares with two Czech women who also teach English. Here we have offices instead of our own classrooms, and we change classrooms each period, so it's more like university than US high school.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKYDqo6EYegnJOSi1q-SXoYAtg6joXxiZshVHqf6gUIi5Z-1f-VB2UA8f0JBDdzWMQkmZJcj_aT6Sv59dZ_9OdaLanUj-JIrz0NxCQqX2Y7VWTrZCwfQ0VV7KSnCMQxQiK6nYcSJBbzVlf/s1600/IMG_2970.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKYDqo6EYegnJOSi1q-SXoYAtg6joXxiZshVHqf6gUIi5Z-1f-VB2UA8f0JBDdzWMQkmZJcj_aT6Sv59dZ_9OdaLanUj-JIrz0NxCQqX2Y7VWTrZCwfQ0VV7KSnCMQxQiK6nYcSJBbzVlf/s320/IMG_2970.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Sixteen: Here we have Jadon at the main door of our apartment building. The window above the door is our bedroom.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi83kq2OYxqJgS9oLta9dLpJMISBRJADgilVX9CezJzWPtXFMXn1rWlty16YHicflzmDCLYiyC16gcSAyV64afaAjrmlNznxpW2f0GvE-z2LWJVR-zbuXFbq7FrfYKg3qcZcVK9fRibE0dC/s1600/IMG_2971.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi83kq2OYxqJgS9oLta9dLpJMISBRJADgilVX9CezJzWPtXFMXn1rWlty16YHicflzmDCLYiyC16gcSAyV64afaAjrmlNznxpW2f0GvE-z2LWJVR-zbuXFbq7FrfYKg3qcZcVK9fRibE0dC/s320/IMG_2971.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Seventeen: The teachers' workroom at school. The big gray board in the corner is where schedule changes are listed. Our class schedule changes frequently. The week this was taken there was only one "normal" day. Every other day had at least one class time changed, a new class added, or a class totally cancelled. This took some getting used to, but now it seems totally normal.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLhUUKkMJ9b1KevdQyhZCHbFFr-Zr5xjvBEs2kTC1yzJT1MDK2-MrikFqjI22OIW39XQ94tVXlb8NxemYZNCbYQC7-32WObvQWVqiuVdE_yrZaa6nkv3-H8hFD6b1-VyXliqrnn4jigpqI/s1600/IMG_2973.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLhUUKkMJ9b1KevdQyhZCHbFFr-Zr5xjvBEs2kTC1yzJT1MDK2-MrikFqjI22OIW39XQ94tVXlb8NxemYZNCbYQC7-32WObvQWVqiuVdE_yrZaa6nkv3-H8hFD6b1-VyXliqrnn4jigpqI/s320/IMG_2973.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Eighteen: Part of our walk home from the bus stop.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi417fZ5BVk6ACNEQMHfBQ2HGxOMQ9akGOIhCZDIQpw_AGVtIGGXmw7RskhP87h82tOHiW6SaeTTExjWJZtoh9MykP74Ab0m2TL0GKdYRWs8VS76KYc8yBAeZhghZQyJq7uxyaEW6IBPHOt/s1600/IMG_2976.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi417fZ5BVk6ACNEQMHfBQ2HGxOMQ9akGOIhCZDIQpw_AGVtIGGXmw7RskhP87h82tOHiW6SaeTTExjWJZtoh9MykP74Ab0m2TL0GKdYRWs8VS76KYc8yBAeZhghZQyJq7uxyaEW6IBPHOt/s320/IMG_2976.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Nineteen: We were outside of Prague one weekend doing a retreat with the other ESL teachers in Central Europe. It was a wonderful time of rest & spiritual renewal!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOsxjWINv895YJagePJrWyX1-h6dup7buNEThojYbKH-pEvmIFljaCuel39yTUyMyB996Yc3TzwtfNPOQhj6B0a_BW7oN7nXCU9o8Qdk7pFtOM0CEUraF9wcuWKqz8LFvAUmZmX-lr30h1/s1600/IMG_2983.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOsxjWINv895YJagePJrWyX1-h6dup7buNEThojYbKH-pEvmIFljaCuel39yTUyMyB996Yc3TzwtfNPOQhj6B0a_BW7oN7nXCU9o8Qdk7pFtOM0CEUraF9wcuWKqz8LFvAUmZmX-lr30h1/s320/IMG_2983.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Twenty: Cute little cabins at the retreat center. Beautiful warm, sunny day!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQAfVVrQlwOeAYMJAz3PFND92Op7uMHX3YHkbz_QPeQC8ItuFHbSsJSuJcprhFC6h5P_oc7BvFOiwWTol_BtXQHvnvwsZS0EmtPNGhL6hJcHwH8JK81BMxbePYg4lFHdllS4jR_KbeimC/s1600/IMG_2986.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQAfVVrQlwOeAYMJAz3PFND92Op7uMHX3YHkbz_QPeQC8ItuFHbSsJSuJcprhFC6h5P_oc7BvFOiwWTol_BtXQHvnvwsZS0EmtPNGhL6hJcHwH8JK81BMxbePYg4lFHdllS4jR_KbeimC/s320/IMG_2986.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Twenty One: Pretty much what every evening looks like. Chicago hockey & kaiser roll garlic bread. Livin' the dream.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQKfNgZqZ3sfWTtaAvlVZ9KzHrNMo8yakEdG7VxPMS7KUAKWwXCYrqNoVbyerkSdiCfwPQQ_ef1cV09_neif8tWZEHT2DFNnruTBQaaI-48Uc5pYKBi_kkGGuVtI51F83bTY9i3YWA6cfR/s1600/IMG_2990.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQKfNgZqZ3sfWTtaAvlVZ9KzHrNMo8yakEdG7VxPMS7KUAKWwXCYrqNoVbyerkSdiCfwPQQ_ef1cV09_neif8tWZEHT2DFNnruTBQaaI-48Uc5pYKBi_kkGGuVtI51F83bTY9i3YWA6cfR/s320/IMG_2990.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Twenty Two: The living room. On the left is how we dry our laundry (driers aren't a thing here) & on the right is one corner of our giant full wall book shelf. We are really fancy.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjByntBsGvtw1tXOSx0S9_2QORI976p4j_RX2amuXjd0803sHV0BurLnNLqdvDIeQPm6RFR8Xb4pszGRCNo6M51v9xwq3pT85kTx_Y1OVBVZ2K2XF7KW5HRyL5qQrkxvPZHlRv-VvyVNv7o/s1600/IMG_2994.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjByntBsGvtw1tXOSx0S9_2QORI976p4j_RX2amuXjd0803sHV0BurLnNLqdvDIeQPm6RFR8Xb4pszGRCNo6M51v9xwq3pT85kTx_Y1OVBVZ2K2XF7KW5HRyL5qQrkxvPZHlRv-VvyVNv7o/s320/IMG_2994.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Twenty Three: Yellow school, yellow leaves, cloudy day.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwEySXtqEHPwiHaxZOjeTfCAuYf1fBcMroAMkG3eiPnLwoYJM2FEuAaJLVIBRsR40mxEKH-BW0sO7k9AhwXP0S-qXFTwBCUbe2lm-4rSyIkTBllV1XmY2hEsDyw8X_ccJaHfsr8KDo6OD1/s1600/IMG_2998.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwEySXtqEHPwiHaxZOjeTfCAuYf1fBcMroAMkG3eiPnLwoYJM2FEuAaJLVIBRsR40mxEKH-BW0sO7k9AhwXP0S-qXFTwBCUbe2lm-4rSyIkTBllV1XmY2hEsDyw8X_ccJaHfsr8KDo6OD1/s320/IMG_2998.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Twenty Four: One of the best things about European living is the abundance of cafes. Spent some time relaxing at one before drama club last week.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPZRYperONtliz7eDLvvPS5dqiqtlfFVv7eX1g96C0OyXRwv8PasMZ4ZG0i_kcyd2tHHUQ_Ay2HzkTUn4uJLsWGhGWE-Qf9NDDOoajGHGtOzc9I9tEXI3Oe8I_gqn_OFjRH0NddvG5ixFm/s1600/IMG_3006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPZRYperONtliz7eDLvvPS5dqiqtlfFVv7eX1g96C0OyXRwv8PasMZ4ZG0i_kcyd2tHHUQ_Ay2HzkTUn4uJLsWGhGWE-Qf9NDDOoajGHGtOzc9I9tEXI3Oe8I_gqn_OFjRH0NddvG5ixFm/s320/IMG_3006.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Twenty Five: How we get around. To get to school we take a bus (bottom) two stops & then a tram (top) two stops. But the day this was taken we went two other places, so all together we ended up riding 4 buses & 3 trams.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjELw3Qfk3j9eAE0fhoCxjkIIIuXsfY6z-1Kqrdgh0Ohrq6xCq-mvaU7_DjugJUEMRqIgKuKLnQRsKKpIfZXlwRKNoINpn-SJR6obRa0nvVdGQbu7vt3q7SGu7YeiPm6ZZrm7Tg6-mSanlk/s1600/IMG_3010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjELw3Qfk3j9eAE0fhoCxjkIIIuXsfY6z-1Kqrdgh0Ohrq6xCq-mvaU7_DjugJUEMRqIgKuKLnQRsKKpIfZXlwRKNoINpn-SJR6obRa0nvVdGQbu7vt3q7SGu7YeiPm6ZZrm7Tg6-mSanlk/s320/IMG_3010.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Twenty Six: Christmas has come! Since there's obviously no Thanksgiving here, they're not skipping over any holidays, but it's still hard to believe Christmas is so soon! (This picture is of a mall.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7DC1TDa2uXUukwoDeWZ9OIg6Hr0NKkrNCa3gQd-iMZ7613j2tAA2JrCs5bu8wN91FSdIk2preluHVHc8gxQoZD0mWVUl-R7G6Tk3TrF6VNxB-GZwOF8LcadGnVPXTxsL42jXlqDhyphenhyphenN5QN/s1600/IMG_3012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7DC1TDa2uXUukwoDeWZ9OIg6Hr0NKkrNCa3gQd-iMZ7613j2tAA2JrCs5bu8wN91FSdIk2preluHVHc8gxQoZD0mWVUl-R7G6Tk3TrF6VNxB-GZwOF8LcadGnVPXTxsL42jXlqDhyphenhyphenN5QN/s320/IMG_3012.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Twenty Seven: Always enjoy the services at our church here in Prague, Faith Community Church.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHEdiXjxex5asqQF3FhIVsMbtcmTgAlo8g-PELnuMBHooQ9uBRMfQneliIuIUYQHsbcMyB0sFpfZGs7y-nj30PaeYcbGbyMWSLMixLijc2xQP_ZoyyeQReLiSVSj6f8KAwIEJ05caCMrc_/s1600/IMG_3015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHEdiXjxex5asqQF3FhIVsMbtcmTgAlo8g-PELnuMBHooQ9uBRMfQneliIuIUYQHsbcMyB0sFpfZGs7y-nj30PaeYcbGbyMWSLMixLijc2xQP_ZoyyeQReLiSVSj6f8KAwIEJ05caCMrc_/s320/IMG_3015.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Twenty Eight: Three days a week we teach until 5:00pm, and it's always a bummer when you're still at school for the sunset, but at least it's a pretty view!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjegSJuIx8_ehQjxP1dnu0p1L8xkqXHw77vK38Kqop5aDnZarplfHMBkfrFaNzr4KTWmiuDINoYzsHNai3BNlJx-ZQqiiJN9mAIM-U7LVZjBWoN9eWp9Mkjr7M_8XY-ZD5ItsA6O8ZNoQRO/s1600/IMG_3020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjegSJuIx8_ehQjxP1dnu0p1L8xkqXHw77vK38Kqop5aDnZarplfHMBkfrFaNzr4KTWmiuDINoYzsHNai3BNlJx-ZQqiiJN9mAIM-U7LVZjBWoN9eWp9Mkjr7M_8XY-ZD5ItsA6O8ZNoQRO/s320/IMG_3020.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Twenty Nine: The Czech flag is not displayed nearly as often as the US flag, but November 17 was a state holiday. No work, no school, & flags on the trams. (Plus, as you can see, it was a very windy day.)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV1PnWuHuG6-Wa-03zmymUTjJD0edWc0adJ5mG-T5mou85r3OBHzlN3HyAEA1c_Gj5D57PT4LY3WOcJT2TAMDukc3yskxfGr6Yql88eMGUByuih_dgzDz16ZycYiaX9DhQyYyuwf0-SI_0/s1600/12273169_10100146236029317_37857799_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV1PnWuHuG6-Wa-03zmymUTjJD0edWc0adJ5mG-T5mou85r3OBHzlN3HyAEA1c_Gj5D57PT4LY3WOcJT2TAMDukc3yskxfGr6Yql88eMGUByuih_dgzDz16ZycYiaX9DhQyYyuwf0-SI_0/s320/12273169_10100146236029317_37857799_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day Thirty: We actually live pretty far from the center of Prague (which is why you haven't seen it in any of these pictures), and we usually only go to Old Town when we have visitors, but I thought I'd end with an iconic Prague picture. This is the national museum & St. Wenceslas on his horse in Wenceslas Square. </td></tr>
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Now come visit Prague & you can see all this great stuff for yourself! Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-46146736822057909342015-11-17T01:58:00.004-08:002015-11-17T01:58:53.322-08:00Christmas CardsHello Everyone!<br />
<br />
We cannot believe how quickly Christmas is approaching!<br />
Like last year, we would love to receive your Christmas cards this holiday! It was
a fantastic way for us to feel more connected to friends & family
last holiday season. We get our mail at school, so for us to have your
cards before Christmas, they need to be mailed by early December. But if
they are late, we will just as gladly open them in January :D<br />
<br />
Here is our address if you need it:<br />
Jadon & Brittany Huddleston<br />
Gymnazium<br />
Arabska 14<br />
Praha 6 160 00<br />
Czech Republic<br />
<br />
Sorry we've been delinquent with our posts on here. We're hoping to get a few more up in the next couple weeks.<br />
<br />Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-86510617322550082242015-10-26T10:11:00.000-07:002015-10-26T10:16:44.266-07:00October UpdateWell we used to do a good job at updating more frequently, but here's what's been happening this month for the Huddlestons in Prague!<br />
<br />
SCHOOL-RELATED:<br />
- English Drama Club has started! We have been enjoying time once a week with these weirdos playing improv games & getting to know the new members. We've also chosen the play we will be performing in April so it's exciting to have that underway.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJ9u0XPW3wTiS9vxqCqvwwdAPHhwETGQ-AeYqTnfvU_3l5zHq71SnnnNMXkpQjUaoGQxtUMnLa_MLlgFQEjUja9qRHOGysneElnHW-mOWIyDVly6g5RWjcHYWfEd1eJyMdNC4C5NTnTFz/s1600/12096571_10100138882890067_2751677228178851152_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJ9u0XPW3wTiS9vxqCqvwwdAPHhwETGQ-AeYqTnfvU_3l5zHq71SnnnNMXkpQjUaoGQxtUMnLa_MLlgFQEjUja9qRHOGysneElnHW-mOWIyDVly6g5RWjcHYWfEd1eJyMdNC4C5NTnTFz/s320/12096571_10100138882890067_2751677228178851152_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">12 of our crazy EDC students :D </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
- English Movie Nights! We've met three times so far with students after school to watch some favorite English-language films & have small discussions after. So far we've watched Oceans 11, Psycho, & Hocus Pocus. Our next film will be Monty Python & the Holy Grail!<br />
<br />
- Brittany has been meeting once a week with a manager at our local Starbucks to do English lessons. She has really enjoyed making this new friend and being paid in coffee!<br />
<br />
CHURCH-RELATED:<br />
- We have been attending a community group Bible study each week at one of our pastor's homes. It has been a wonderful place to meet people & get to know them better. This has been a huge blessing to us this fall especially as we've missed a lot of Sundays at church.<br />
<br />
- We were able to attend our church's first church-wide retreat last weekend! About 80 people from Faith Community Church went to a small campground about an hour outside of Prague. We left Friday evening & came back Sunday afternoon. It was a great weekend of fellowship and spiritual rejuvenation as we talked about the power & trustworthiness of scripture.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWjeQP6CYc52l3haFILom17c6qCIF3kRezdKLsGSlqFrCaareoHl5GrtoNKSoA29J2KRe2RjYNXPQG_aa9Ow4tpecTj1oR7Q-EbsOZPGe6FwTtrAHoqoOXhmKhX6Y21RouXT532F9gDddn/s1600/11137190_1103561759655774_4278420652428628422_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWjeQP6CYc52l3haFILom17c6qCIF3kRezdKLsGSlqFrCaareoHl5GrtoNKSoA29J2KRe2RjYNXPQG_aa9Ow4tpecTj1oR7Q-EbsOZPGe6FwTtrAHoqoOXhmKhX6Y21RouXT532F9gDddn/s320/11137190_1103561759655774_4278420652428628422_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Most of our Faith Community Church group at the retreat</td></tr>
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- Jadon has been attending a men's group every other week. They are reading through and discussing Timothy Keller's book "Every Good Endeavor" and getting to know each other over delicious Czech pub food.<br />
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EXTRA STUFF:<br />
- We were able to go back to the USA the weekend of the 10th for our friend Rebecca's wedding. The trip was a bit of a whirlwind as we left Prague on Friday, and then left Virginia on Sunday. But it was such a joy to spend time with our friends Laura & Kayla as well as celebrate with Rebecca & Eric.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying some time at a pumpkin patch! </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With the beautiful couple!</td></tr>
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- This weekend we had our Thanksgiving meal with our Teach Beyond team. It was early for the Americans & late for the Canadians, but it was great afternoon of good food & time together.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Team Beyond team (minus 3 people who couldn't be there) at our Thanksgiving meal</td></tr>
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- Yesterday we got to go to the Rudolfinum concert hall to see a fantastic orchestra concert featuring the movie music composed by James Horner. We've been to quite a few concerts in the past year, and this was our favorite so far!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Outside the Rudolfinum after the concert</td></tr>
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Prayer Requests:<br />
- Health. Brittany has been sick this past week, and many people from our church have had the flu.<br />
- Traveling. This week we're off from school for fall break & are hitting the road again, so prayers for safe travels are appreciated.<br />
- Rest. This fall we have been SO busy doing so many fun things, so we need to make the most of time we have to rest.<br />
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Praises:<br />
- We get to go back to Paris this week as well as travel to Belgium for the first time! We get so much joy from these travels & are so blessed with the travel opportunities we have.<br />
- Getting connected with church family. We've loved the community group & fall retreat and hope to continue making connections with these great people.<br />
- Prague friends. We really feel like we are making so many great friends in Prague, and are so grateful for the people who are investing in us & those that we are able to invest in.Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-53574452362543763542015-10-07T01:55:00.001-07:002015-10-07T01:56:52.916-07:00Visiting Krakow, PolandSeptember 28 is a holiday in the Czech Republic, which means we got a three day weekend! When thinking of places to travel for this short holiday, we realized we had not yet visited eastern Europe and wanted to change that. Krakow is close to the Czech border and easy to get to via train or bus. So on Friday after school we got on a train to Ostrava, Czech Republic and from there took a mini-bus (which really turned out to be a mini-van. it was weird) to Krakow.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSj7C88OgTL3pMb3yqfRDsf_ZFuqszLyOZqXhQ8OEa9FLjx2M1EwF0LMJRtpqBe8YTsj7-UshX9pIXVZVrhmyX29UJ66YPDCqUpLGTp0JnrBQuFKcfCEOZAUchQUAo7fDui9xl9TsvxrGQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-10-07+at+9.56.19+AM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSj7C88OgTL3pMb3yqfRDsf_ZFuqszLyOZqXhQ8OEa9FLjx2M1EwF0LMJRtpqBe8YTsj7-UshX9pIXVZVrhmyX29UJ66YPDCqUpLGTp0JnrBQuFKcfCEOZAUchQUAo7fDui9xl9TsvxrGQ/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-10-07+at+9.56.19+AM.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our route from Prague to Krakow</td></tr>
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We arrived late (and in the rain) on Friday, but found our hotel fairly easily. Saturday we planned to be our sightseeing day. We were armed with our umbrellas and Rick Steve's book on Eastern Europe which included a great walking tour of Krakow. It rained ALL day on Saturday, but that ended up working to our advantage. Even though it makes the pictures of such a beautiful city look a bit dreary, it allowed us to explore Krakow free from the press of crowds, which we really enjoyed!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Barbican - fortifying Krakow's ancient city walls!</td></tr>
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We began our day in St. Mary's Basilica which is famous for it's beautiful High Altar. Each day the altar is opened by a nun from the church, and many tourists come in to see this moment. The whole altar is made entirely of wood and is HUGE. The statues inside the altar piece stand over 8 feet tall! It was masterfully made and the opening was a beautiful moment.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. Mary's Basilica</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gorgeous High Altar</td></tr>
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Krakow is a city filled with churches. There are 142 churches & monasteries within the city limits, and 32 of those are within the Old Town. Churches are one of our favorite places to visit when we travel, so this was great! On Saturday we visited at least 5 churches within about 3 hours. We also were able to see both the church and home of Pope John Paul II who was from Krakow.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. Andrews Church - and directly to the left is the Church of Saints Peter & Paul</td></tr>
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Another thing we really enjoy about traveling is trying new foods, and perogies, we have discovered, are DELICIOUS. And we wish they were popular in Prague, though it's probably good that they aren't, because we had perogies for both lunch and dinner on our Saturday in Krakow!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">YUM!!!!</td></tr>
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Our day ended with a trip to Krakow's Wawel Castle, which was a gorgeous castle and one that really reminded us of castles we read about in books. When we pictures mythic or fantasy castles, <br />
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Wawel Castle is what we see. Outside the castle's walls there is a dragon which breathes fire! This was the end of our day and such a great little must-see of Krakow!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entering the Castle grounds</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With the dragon! </td></tr>
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On Sunday we had the privilege to visit Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II - Birkenau. This was a difficult and sobering trip, but it was one that we believe is important. It is impossible to put into words what we experienced there, so we won't even try. We took only a very few pictures, but we encourage anyone who has the opportunity to visit and learn and remember.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Auschwitz II - Birkenau: train tracks & main gate</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Auschwitz II - Birkenau: end of the train line</td></tr>
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Arriving back in Krakow the sun was shining, so we did a bit more sightseeing in the sunshine! We spent more time in the main Market Square trying new foods and shopping for gorgeous Polish ceramics.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cloth Hall in the main Market Square</td></tr>
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We were so pleasantly surprised by the beauty of Krakow, and highly recommend it as one of Europe's best kept secrets! We hope to be able to return there again some day!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I mean, how cool is this?!</td></tr>
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To see the rest of the pictures from our trip, click <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100134428995707.1073741862.69601108&type=1&l=244cabc774" target="_blank">here!</a><br />
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<br />Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-53794204065942239702015-09-23T02:07:00.002-07:002015-09-23T02:07:59.603-07:00Our Weekend in EnglandWritten by Brittany<br />
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As most people reading this blog know, I am half-British and half-American. My dad was born & raised in England, and I have a very large British family that still lives in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.<br />
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This past weekend, one of my cousins, Kate, got married in England, and Jadon and I were lucky enough to attend the beautiful wedding! It had been three years since I had been over to see my family, and while I did not get to see everyone, it was such a joy to see the people I did!<br />
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We flew to London's Stansted airport very late on Friday after school, landing there just after 1am Saturday morning. That night, after a rather eventful journey from the airport, we stayed in a Holiday Inn Express near the airport before catching a train north the next day.<br />
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Saturday's train trips were enjoyable & uneventful. It was such a relaxing experience taking public transportation that was in English! While we love exploring countries and experiencing other languages, you always have to be paying extra attention when you're listening for words you don't really understand. Here, we could just relax until we heard the announcement for our stop.<br />
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Saturday afternoon & evening were spent exploring the small town of Newark, England. It was a beautiful place with a gorgeous church and even castle ruins! We hadn't done any research before arriving, so it was a pleasant surprise to find some much to explore! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We had a beautiful day to go exploring!</td></tr>
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Sunday afternoon was the wedding, and when we arrived at the venue, we were amazed at how beautiful it was! We were also staying at the venue that night, so we checked into our room and got ready for the big event!<br />
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This was the first British wedding either of us had attended, and we didn't know if there would be much difference culturally between British & American weddings. For the most part, things were very similar, though there was one large difference. When Kate & Paul went to sign the marriage certificate, a beautifully decorated desk was brought out which they sat at and then signed the certificate as part of the actual ceremony. The legal aspect of marriage was featured more than I have seen in any American ceremonies. It was very interesting, and the ceremony itself was absolutely beautiful!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kate & Paul signing the marriage certificate</td></tr>
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The rest of the evening was SO enjoyable. Being with family, meeting new people, celebrating in such a beautiful place. It was clear that Kate had planned everything to a T, and it was all carried out perfectly. I'm not sure I've been to a more beautiful wedding.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the grounds from our hotel room</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bride's family</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gorgeous table setting</td></tr>
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The next day, we were able to have breakfast with the family before we had to take our train back down to London & caught our flight home.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At breakfast with my cousin Emily, the bride's sister, and her youngest son Joseph</td></tr>
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The trip was much too short, but it was so fantastic! We are really hoping to get back to England again soon.<br />
To see all the pictures from our weekend, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100132779037237.1073741861.69601108&type=1&l=c44d2f67a9" target="_blank">click here!</a>Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-8303931127901024122015-09-17T00:41:00.000-07:002015-09-17T00:41:40.318-07:00Updates!Well it has been over a full month since our last blog post, so this will be a quick update post to get everyone caught up.<br />
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- In August we traveled to Greece for a week! It was a great (though hot) vacation where we got to see some of the most beautiful scenery and some wonderful ancient monuments. To see the rest of the pictures, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100124424604587.1073741860.69601108&type=1&l=d44df0f3b8" target="_blank">click here!</a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Santorini, Greece</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Santorini, Greece</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Parthenon, Athens, Greece</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ancient Olympic Stadium, Olympia, Greece</td></tr>
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- WE HAVE OUR VISAS! We are now done with all things visa related for the WHOLE year! If you remember our experiences last year, this is a huge Hallelujah moment!<br />
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- We got to visit the Strahov Monastery in Prague, and see two of the most beautiful libraries in the world! For us English majors, this was a beautiful big deal.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCX2IxaRTWJuBQfVV06NfC4LyZBUsXQJoMex-Ojh1Wmr1v9ElBvaLwigsTSjGnf5DhRMI21ZPtqvLaR35pkB6u2b6eKpObmMCd3NTS4j-VxCKsF9pqUYUSVaXG9knZnZ8qGjhZ_Fnw3x4r/s1600/DSCN3544.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCX2IxaRTWJuBQfVV06NfC4LyZBUsXQJoMex-Ojh1Wmr1v9ElBvaLwigsTSjGnf5DhRMI21ZPtqvLaR35pkB6u2b6eKpObmMCd3NTS4j-VxCKsF9pqUYUSVaXG9knZnZ8qGjhZ_Fnw3x4r/s320/DSCN3544.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Philosophical Hall Library</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQM8ci7cCzRXzDFENg3KKm7mW728ixCJKxQFCsEyx26g2VVsr-xkgJwqpL7kYdPRk_7fTIrZ50N7s_nHbJbFkkSYLWHi2RbNhyphenhypheni5ohuFK0PXhDuqXAXlQMAPbXp1SPNI_dyghfW5Dp-0TE/s1600/DSCN3563.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQM8ci7cCzRXzDFENg3KKm7mW728ixCJKxQFCsEyx26g2VVsr-xkgJwqpL7kYdPRk_7fTIrZ50N7s_nHbJbFkkSYLWHi2RbNhyphenhypheni5ohuFK0PXhDuqXAXlQMAPbXp1SPNI_dyghfW5Dp-0TE/s320/DSCN3563.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Theological Hall Library</td></tr>
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- We have been back to school for 2 weeks, and it has been great seeing our students from last year as well as meeting our new students. We're really looking forward to beginning the English Drama Club next week as well as starting English Movie Nights at our school this year!<br />
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Prayer Requests:<br />- We will be doing a lot of traveling coming up, so prayers for safety as we travel as well as rest as we balance travel & work schedules.<br />
- Health. <br />
- There is a group of six CRU members who have just moved to Prague for the year. Prayers for their ministry here as well as their interactions with students.<br />
- There are two of our Teach Beyond team members who, due to visa issues, are still not in the Czech Republic. One arrives this week, and the other is still waiting for her visa to clear. Prayers for them as they hit the ground running once they're here and peace/patience as they wait. <br />
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Praises:<br />
- We have started attending a weekly Bible study with a group from our church which has already been a wonderful blessing & we're looking forward to how God can use our time together.<br />
- Being back at school has been great! Though it's still work & tiring, we're just so glad to be back with the students.<br />
- Fall weather is here!<br />
- Grace, Providence, Mercy, & Joy! Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-5013099441792720942015-08-15T00:48:00.000-07:002015-08-15T00:48:50.141-07:00Snail Mail & E-MailTwo quick updates this morning:<br />
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1. You can now send "snail mail" to our school address here again. We love getting mail, so if you think of us, we'd love to hear from you that way!<br />
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Our mailing address is:<br />
Jadon & Brittany Huddleston<br />
Gymnazium<br />
Arabska 14<br />
Praha 6 160 00<br />
Czech Republic<br />
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2. We are going on a small cruise around Greece's islands this upcoming week (yay!), but we will not have access to Internet while we are on the boat. So we will have it until 9am our time tomorrow (Saturday the 16th) which is 2am Central Time in the States. After that, we won't see emails, messages, or anything until we're home on the evening of Sunday, August 23.<br />
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We return to school on the 26th, & then classes begin Sept. 1. Getting close! <br />
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<br />Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-27557397219684793912015-08-08T09:21:00.000-07:002015-08-08T09:41:22.481-07:00Home for the Summer!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We were lucky enough to spend a full month in the States this summer visiting friends & family in Kansas & Illinois. We are so grateful to everyone who made time to see us, some of them driving many hours to do so! There are not enough words to say how wonderful this past month was, so this blog will be mostly pictures (and it will be a LOT of pictures, so prepare yourselves).<br />
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We now give you, Our Summer Home:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We were welcomed at O'Hare by SO MANY American flags. It was 4th of July weekend, but we were on flag overdose right from the get go.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Our first stop was Olathe, Kansas where we stayed with Jadon's parents and got to see his brother, Jonathan, and his family.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three members & the leader of Jadon's Accountability Group from high school youth group.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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At the Kansas City Zoo! Jadon's parents with our niece & nephew, and then all the "kids." </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Josiah really loved the map at the zoo, so he was our official guide.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Out for a girl's day getting our nails done & then some Starbucks & cake pops!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Funny picture & then a group shot with the family all together.</td></tr>
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Then we traveled for a 2-day mini-vacation in Galena, Illinois. It was very small town America, and a great place to relax and sight see for a couple days.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful Illinois landscapes on the way to Galena</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The largest wooden nickel! </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The home of President Ulysses S. Grant</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside Grant's home - the two vases on the fireplace are Bohemian glass made in the Czech Republic!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When people ask me (Brittany) what kind of food I miss from America, this is my answer. Biscuits and gravy! Yum! The best cafe in Galena - Otto's Place. We went twice for breakfast & highly recommend it!</td></tr>
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After Galena, we traveled to Manteno, Illinois to stay with my family for a couple weeks. There we got to see a lot of friends (not all who we have pictures with) and family.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqrOZN3pE3K_DPjQWlF6KFEjKqBvCHYK0Uhejv677MgGjwvc1KB_kZdetwI2nihfBxW8HLQx40SONytfrQUlFezw4VdZOXghwEbqxZK_1Zmk6DFNVu63_k27N7xP-vosNLTJHwdueXsNSk/s1600/IMG_2496.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqrOZN3pE3K_DPjQWlF6KFEjKqBvCHYK0Uhejv677MgGjwvc1KB_kZdetwI2nihfBxW8HLQx40SONytfrQUlFezw4VdZOXghwEbqxZK_1Zmk6DFNVu63_k27N7xP-vosNLTJHwdueXsNSk/s320/IMG_2496.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First, we went to the wedding of one of my previous students, Dani (Martin) Wildermuth. It was so exciting to be there for her & Austin and celebrate with them. It was a very beautiful wedding.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcSAab8K1MoETd-LiTjeQiADMRFPcFhkVqJ17aXOsmhio-gaKO44tBR-Skeuj7YL0frCgVmMANy0TZkKx4dW4xcwrdqNlEFB7PXu1eBAWRGRPOC4Q0Ygew_GL5eLrRHaA8Zxqw8K-7WxE/s1600/IMG_2505.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcSAab8K1MoETd-LiTjeQiADMRFPcFhkVqJ17aXOsmhio-gaKO44tBR-Skeuj7YL0frCgVmMANy0TZkKx4dW4xcwrdqNlEFB7PXu1eBAWRGRPOC4Q0Ygew_GL5eLrRHaA8Zxqw8K-7WxE/s320/IMG_2505.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My friend Kristi is getting married in TWO days!! And I was lucky enough to be there to celebrate her bachelorette party with her. So many congratulations to her & Bill! </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4tY_UajnOByTYK6g_vO20sZxZo9VB-Wns7ahf2Qf6-UFvLMjqBVSBaqcea2lgnUBgZSHP-4rgmK9godefuGSoaRFiwAmIfSBNokr_bOPlmFItbLFCDfJKHh7zv5y5kDY5DE_DgiXSKHbx/s1600/IMG_2509.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4tY_UajnOByTYK6g_vO20sZxZo9VB-Wns7ahf2Qf6-UFvLMjqBVSBaqcea2lgnUBgZSHP-4rgmK9godefuGSoaRFiwAmIfSBNokr_bOPlmFItbLFCDfJKHh7zv5y5kDY5DE_DgiXSKHbx/s320/IMG_2509.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Also at the bachelorette celebration, my friends Brandon & Katie.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9GHwnzOQX7Fk0F5S4eOGHyG_UdNgG6o-eMldIB7al6wzYIxE-FerhMQsi7AK1u9_esj2UFXoEVZgvJhxfT7gPQFp-ZzBGS5tIaEhennYmi9mzE0xdVnUN5Z_uOdCQ3NUIbWascWElVGMr/s1600/IMG_2516.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9GHwnzOQX7Fk0F5S4eOGHyG_UdNgG6o-eMldIB7al6wzYIxE-FerhMQsi7AK1u9_esj2UFXoEVZgvJhxfT7gPQFp-ZzBGS5tIaEhennYmi9mzE0xdVnUN5Z_uOdCQ3NUIbWascWElVGMr/s320/IMG_2516.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jadon & I got to see one of our favorite bands Rend Collective! It was a great night of worship & fun & jumping up and down.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAHjjj7TGQkQtNYvNYPV8gsEnWk_3vFtgY3B6jrc9ptZQ8vyfwvOOOBinhgjTuSPwwYcFoZYEln8WTiClFtGGGXMuFpHIOkVUNit05dU8xvz9mc8OO9bHEl8uAy1mjpnpRonEkzuwgFNb-/s1600/IMG_2537.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAHjjj7TGQkQtNYvNYPV8gsEnWk_3vFtgY3B6jrc9ptZQ8vyfwvOOOBinhgjTuSPwwYcFoZYEln8WTiClFtGGGXMuFpHIOkVUNit05dU8xvz9mc8OO9bHEl8uAy1mjpnpRonEkzuwgFNb-/s320/IMG_2537.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brandon & Greg hosted a Friends Birthday Party for us to celebrate all of the birthdays we've missed this year!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidPkqz7cWLdyWfBOsBLZXWSJXLSixABzi2swWJi6DF8KTUbycXkkUuIlgsFHjnq2ls7ZO83c6GhvlMYYv6xfP3zUX4rRli6OQQX9CaFyjC-gSfDIhzu9ZQt3tsAweTY3rDjDckTx28difG/s1600/IMG_2533.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidPkqz7cWLdyWfBOsBLZXWSJXLSixABzi2swWJi6DF8KTUbycXkkUuIlgsFHjnq2ls7ZO83c6GhvlMYYv6xfP3zUX4rRli6OQQX9CaFyjC-gSfDIhzu9ZQt3tsAweTY3rDjDckTx28difG/s320/IMG_2533.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was such a nice night being all together & the first time we got to meet Diana's son Dylan! </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir2vUrS2zrwc12byou_774xJPyNqB8B_PVUbsgBBsmFPeFd-q_4mtVKdZCipmB2H_R4odzOs8xmVtv8yVHphsobfJVrbwvCNHCY5oaywqOZnslxyaSCMEMxBcvW5fUbcutLFSYVa_vTOTz/s1600/IMG_2557.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir2vUrS2zrwc12byou_774xJPyNqB8B_PVUbsgBBsmFPeFd-q_4mtVKdZCipmB2H_R4odzOs8xmVtv8yVHphsobfJVrbwvCNHCY5oaywqOZnslxyaSCMEMxBcvW5fUbcutLFSYVa_vTOTz/s320/IMG_2557.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the Cubs game at Wrigley Field! </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMq-Hrxu-T2f-xTRzGF8v_O5g347lsvz9NSBtoI2xZxYIevThtVBTOyYe7rxv9daGZvYO9t03j94UHE9PzxEKaRtqUa_zfyFJljcYDGnrSYsoRjsdVQ_pdK7vH8-j2ubdpaT9ZQ9sRnDRf/s1600/IMG_2566.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMq-Hrxu-T2f-xTRzGF8v_O5g347lsvz9NSBtoI2xZxYIevThtVBTOyYe7rxv9daGZvYO9t03j94UHE9PzxEKaRtqUa_zfyFJljcYDGnrSYsoRjsdVQ_pdK7vH8-j2ubdpaT9ZQ9sRnDRf/s320/IMG_2566.jpg" width="315" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brandon had a role in a local production of CATS, and we were SO glad we could see him perform! It was a fantastic show!!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvtlXDqPpvn2bTs8uJPbs0XkF3VPIiHwNpU19eozhJOQ6io45zZsWJ1-U1Vkd8colWezHYsdHCX7hrnbW6Gat3WDD0fm_gRMCTVD8_2_4PcGW-Ep6yg44UnDVpHE_nm7ZlgRzPCwqrBskJ/s1600/IMG_2571.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvtlXDqPpvn2bTs8uJPbs0XkF3VPIiHwNpU19eozhJOQ6io45zZsWJ1-U1Vkd8colWezHYsdHCX7hrnbW6Gat3WDD0fm_gRMCTVD8_2_4PcGW-Ep6yg44UnDVpHE_nm7ZlgRzPCwqrBskJ/s320/IMG_2571.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Out to lunch one last time as a big group - so glad we got to see so many people who we love so much!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDTfzeZwl8dsI9nLwgMI8e798lrEa0jdW9N5wJ2QlGe0ph2HaLtPceh7lz-QPpYkEFLcgMaiSPiV69t7prconK-coS2ka5c4FkP_HxChFyoejzmfUF3CFz48cGRK4ccF_bhY3HcTWN_ukp/s1600/IMG_2582.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDTfzeZwl8dsI9nLwgMI8e798lrEa0jdW9N5wJ2QlGe0ph2HaLtPceh7lz-QPpYkEFLcgMaiSPiV69t7prconK-coS2ka5c4FkP_HxChFyoejzmfUF3CFz48cGRK4ccF_bhY3HcTWN_ukp/s320/IMG_2582.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My friend Katie & I got to see Kelly Clarkson & Pentatonix, and it was, obviously, amazing.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuPzUAcjIMp_d0LE2D6z6cJcudKuCyqczsStkRwI9umxEmp8bEVj4lPysTXijS2o3E_NVjTZcFdJC0vv3mI1un-JsHp51mXc0S0SLDtCFbhGuZMgr78X8lRtfIaYekE0NzCsmfwKOONWk6/s1600/IMG_2592.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuPzUAcjIMp_d0LE2D6z6cJcudKuCyqczsStkRwI9umxEmp8bEVj4lPysTXijS2o3E_NVjTZcFdJC0vv3mI1un-JsHp51mXc0S0SLDtCFbhGuZMgr78X8lRtfIaYekE0NzCsmfwKOONWk6/s320/IMG_2592.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Group shot of my family on our last day before we headed back to Prague.</td></tr>
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We had such an amazing month home, these pictures and my words hardly do it justice. We are so blessed by so many friends & family members, and your love will carry us far into this year!<br />
<br />
<br />Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-27756510568288188022015-08-07T08:35:00.001-07:002015-08-07T08:35:20.628-07:00Another Visa Update!All went well today at our visa appointment!<br />
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We had everything we needed, and they had everything in order, so we just had our fingerprints & photos taken, and that was it!<br />
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Now we go back in 3 weeks for our final (Lord willing) appointment!<br />
Please keep us in your prayers until then, but we think this should be smooth sailing!Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-37404404634781750122015-08-06T05:52:00.001-07:002015-08-06T05:54:45.644-07:00Visa Update!We are now back in Prague, and things are moving forward with our visa renewal! We found out yesterday that our applications have been approved!<br />
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Our 2nd of 3 appointments will be tomorrow (Friday, Aug. 7) morning. Now that our applications are approved, the rest should be pretty simple and straightforward (*should* being the key word). Our appointment tomorrow should mainly consist of getting our fingerprints and photos taken.<br />
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We'll write another quick update tomorrow with how it all goes. And soon we'll have a brief update about our time in the States last month. Until then, we do have some prayer requests & praises we'd like to share:<br />
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Prayer Requests:<br />
- The Heat. It is really hot right now in Prague, and there is no air conditioning in our apartment (or in most other buildings). These couple of days we've been back we've mostly combated the heat by not leaving except to get groceries, but tomorrow it will be 99 degrees when we head to the foreign police office, so prayers for a break in the heat and rest in the cool when we can.<br />
- Jet Lag. We are currently battling some pretty bad jet lag, so prayers not only for sleep but for rejuvenating sleep.<br />
- Health. Brittany currently has a cough, and last year when we got to Prague, we both battled coughs for the first 6-8 weeks, so we're hoping this is not a prelude of what's to come. Prayers for rest & returned health.<br />
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Praises:<br />
- Traveling Mercies. We made it back to Prague with little incident, with all our bags, and with a good layover with fish & chips! We know not all travel days go that easily, so we're grateful for ones that do.<br />
- Family & Friends. While we had been looking forward to our month back home, we did not expect it to be nearly as rejuvenating or as refreshing as it was, and we are so grateful so many people made time for us! Those are weeks we will truly treasure.<br />
- Electric Fans. It sounds silly, but let's face it, dealing with this heat "back in the day" would be so hard. So while we wish we had a/c, we can also praise for what we do have.Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-3539062864071932322015-07-01T06:16:00.000-07:002015-07-01T06:16:00.941-07:00Ending the School YearWe are officially done with our first school year in Prague!!!<br />
We meant to write a couple blog posts over the last few weeks, but that didn't happen, so we're just going to include some pictures & prayer requests here as we prepare to leave for the States tomorrow.<br />
Thanks for all your support this year!!!<br />
<br />
SIGHTSEEING AROUND PRAGUE:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2-plwzXsqtnG6eiXWdU7JlfBF1kGGM6ixtmgYwzd35FlitRb5KA59blsegulRz-g6WomMSWt00RxIhOdtBqdvU4947t8JyhaL4rDUuX8HEJt0cgAutw4kU86r0y1cK8Ib3kMczZYLJPDK/s1600/11212766_999486060457_554453372744744901_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2-plwzXsqtnG6eiXWdU7JlfBF1kGGM6ixtmgYwzd35FlitRb5KA59blsegulRz-g6WomMSWt00RxIhOdtBqdvU4947t8JyhaL4rDUuX8HEJt0cgAutw4kU86r0y1cK8Ib3kMczZYLJPDK/s320/11212766_999486060457_554453372744744901_n.jpg" width="234" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Basilica of St. Peter & St. Paul at Vyšehrad</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC0O9qe85CY-__0k8PC0_s0ZjErDQUj82zjz2HcUGZwHQ7sBkAmKZdmGZzCAX1EtxE6KSjXasSBfefcZKLSeMWq5ZtG-AkePOUT4EcfDbYqbDz6dBoqYi3WcZvZkFwcUADBvOhpuQkdOPp/s1600/11392775_999485985607_888537788056478737_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC0O9qe85CY-__0k8PC0_s0ZjErDQUj82zjz2HcUGZwHQ7sBkAmKZdmGZzCAX1EtxE6KSjXasSBfefcZKLSeMWq5ZtG-AkePOUT4EcfDbYqbDz6dBoqYi3WcZvZkFwcUADBvOhpuQkdOPp/s320/11392775_999485985607_888537788056478737_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of Prague from Vyšehrad</td></tr>
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EXPLORING THE CZECH REPUBLIC: <br />
We visited Kutná Hora the weekend of the 20th & 21st of June. It's an old city that used to rival Prague in the 16th century, and it is home to the Bone Church - one of the craziest things we've ever seen! You can see pictures from that trip <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100104392843397.1073741858.69601108&type=1&l=c0a7ea9406" target="_blank">here!</a><br />
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LAST DAYS OF SCHOOL:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd5IEsJvdKvCmmr94M0ZMFHA10ZTSIazRKoS-hbtwaGQe_AZZNtiNgFdihKiPsi_Mlen4p1GTdiSkfqDGfZWwnYelZsVl0mVRlpBEVioCzAQ6mIakBkv3sMXUtX94UOMA2YUSQZRNZaIde/s1600/11254056_10100102931626687_5013272149938431265_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd5IEsJvdKvCmmr94M0ZMFHA10ZTSIazRKoS-hbtwaGQe_AZZNtiNgFdihKiPsi_Mlen4p1GTdiSkfqDGfZWwnYelZsVl0mVRlpBEVioCzAQ6mIakBkv3sMXUtX94UOMA2YUSQZRNZaIde/s320/11254056_10100102931626687_5013272149938431265_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First sports day featured track & field, plus a lab coat relay race! </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwISu75Jrup3OlUyQcjmV7VT-FuZ26TT8YD8XNhOMLfGRtXd8swrkPanmcQq9cQDLbNFCQv0OiRoevyTwp5EYMFWWW5eA5VXFM45KeDh6-jwALEN3AIXDkQAdIAFyK8Ad3Q-3qQRljdcm5/s1600/11659361_10100104370193787_2400348240999129598_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwISu75Jrup3OlUyQcjmV7VT-FuZ26TT8YD8XNhOMLfGRtXd8swrkPanmcQq9cQDLbNFCQv0OiRoevyTwp5EYMFWWW5eA5VXFM45KeDh6-jwALEN3AIXDkQAdIAFyK8Ad3Q-3qQRljdcm5/s320/11659361_10100104370193787_2400348240999129598_n.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Football (soccer) being played at the second sports day.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzPmQ-4nd03qFpw6twCBmVZs-48cFuIHFNnYcRuxPke30yjuijeuJCNPU78GUz-Uz-3KsPwMexpsAD-u-ej8CX1kfCQOfxeCHMWPtx8H-EXU_SZqblZ8dIG7XAOthcfeNobnub2e8v21Fb/s1600/17686_10100104370168837_2874656370173390286_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzPmQ-4nd03qFpw6twCBmVZs-48cFuIHFNnYcRuxPke30yjuijeuJCNPU78GUz-Uz-3KsPwMexpsAD-u-ej8CX1kfCQOfxeCHMWPtx8H-EXU_SZqblZ8dIG7XAOthcfeNobnub2e8v21Fb/s320/17686_10100104370168837_2874656370173390286_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Volleyball - also played at the second sports day.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
DAILY LIFE PICS:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGL05kO2A5TLj9e0Ulbj85KgdKDbl7NiGT0CRVjrEHdyCMFT5y17EwdwiBoqJQd9Jqjz21zrrA1psIxp87R0AiNupnvthtQjwQjeePoJFjRt_tjSNct9-D1wG6XGSKKHS1rGbMAy1Pov-q/s1600/11350635_10100103742766157_4666567901394726537_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGL05kO2A5TLj9e0Ulbj85KgdKDbl7NiGT0CRVjrEHdyCMFT5y17EwdwiBoqJQd9Jqjz21zrrA1psIxp87R0AiNupnvthtQjwQjeePoJFjRt_tjSNct9-D1wG6XGSKKHS1rGbMAy1Pov-q/s320/11350635_10100103742766157_4666567901394726537_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from our window in Prague</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMd1Sa4ScPq5IAsq4Uu4OdQ4dPXTTw8lR24b1Ezd3n5E9Nl2nnUBbwu_zxTvJiB2h7GjI3o_dCnrbhWZPeQdJNTP2C8bytIkiyoL_6LONnqKxTQgXjPVXqQFCNkxzfmt7jb98KIvInkxPo/s1600/11214384_10100104095643987_3440290202714303582_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMd1Sa4ScPq5IAsq4Uu4OdQ4dPXTTw8lR24b1Ezd3n5E9Nl2nnUBbwu_zxTvJiB2h7GjI3o_dCnrbhWZPeQdJNTP2C8bytIkiyoL_6LONnqKxTQgXjPVXqQFCNkxzfmt7jb98KIvInkxPo/s320/11214384_10100104095643987_3440290202714303582_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Faith Community Church - the international church we attend in Prague. Worship is currently held in part of a train station while they look for a permanent building.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC4tvONlkLO2vfOHtW-7G3HYQH9zjmkqKbGJMaquS6E4CCw0u4yEViTLJDxJt7wkgpUM2gjVZqJBP9hKT7nuOWsLu1wV9SAMG7GYuXw0locOvP3oXx05_-dgg-KHc_CDoVryzdnZZ4UF20/s1600/11653461_10100105377080977_718047539_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC4tvONlkLO2vfOHtW-7G3HYQH9zjmkqKbGJMaquS6E4CCw0u4yEViTLJDxJt7wkgpUM2gjVZqJBP9hKT7nuOWsLu1wV9SAMG7GYuXw0locOvP3oXx05_-dgg-KHc_CDoVryzdnZZ4UF20/s320/11653461_10100105377080977_718047539_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The front of our school, Gymnázium Arabská. This was taken on the last day of school, which is why there's no one around.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
GARDEN PARTY:<br />
The school year ends with an outdoor party for students, staff, and families. It was a great evening where we got to see some of the talents of our students!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWzoF_tjwTQuFhFlEdqAsDB7dduovMb-b2xOfWMazPGX-e2hCmO2Lb2o6-ExZkfNtDMFObP_RfoZhR3E0a3VBL-YzMWbFczuVRdAllz4pF2_P5VnHYpzkO4V8lXaPuRGYq1pawYVfdq6Jp/s1600/DSCN3171.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWzoF_tjwTQuFhFlEdqAsDB7dduovMb-b2xOfWMazPGX-e2hCmO2Lb2o6-ExZkfNtDMFObP_RfoZhR3E0a3VBL-YzMWbFczuVRdAllz4pF2_P5VnHYpzkO4V8lXaPuRGYq1pawYVfdq6Jp/s320/DSCN3171.JPG" width="320" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWzoF_tjwTQuFhFlEdqAsDB7dduovMb-b2xOfWMazPGX-e2hCmO2Lb2o6-ExZkfNtDMFObP_RfoZhR3E0a3VBL-YzMWbFczuVRdAllz4pF2_P5VnHYpzkO4V8lXaPuRGYq1pawYVfdq6Jp/s1600/DSCN3171.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Irish Dancing - the two students in the front are from our school, the rest are part of their dance group.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOp25lNQTzFbx_lO2y-T-Zbsz_eFP6_rKt2T4u2NZmfyr-0ISRLan9N4ejE8jHCNYMLj4BcXS2aoygeIt8EMHpIgmq38bjlI8YCuI9qyfhLWFDTluPFUH1hGWHjVgC8t7nyeMKampAeWek/s1600/DSCN3177.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOp25lNQTzFbx_lO2y-T-Zbsz_eFP6_rKt2T4u2NZmfyr-0ISRLan9N4ejE8jHCNYMLj4BcXS2aoygeIt8EMHpIgmq38bjlI8YCuI9qyfhLWFDTluPFUH1hGWHjVgC8t7nyeMKampAeWek/s320/DSCN3177.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These students have just produced a CD so we got to have a mini-concert from them!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk9JAfzWk8HYCQirPnJRAu6Lt3qqzmaS6maxwHqOJjqGBNJggD8vDuYzVamtFQyduHRmDdzMISr226RWtpMXQnuNbmXwhbQNUbCh5SeeehTfxcY0TL5JZAbxZNIZXJqi-WAT3HKFaiwNto/s1600/DSCN3179.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk9JAfzWk8HYCQirPnJRAu6Lt3qqzmaS6maxwHqOJjqGBNJggD8vDuYzVamtFQyduHRmDdzMISr226RWtpMXQnuNbmXwhbQNUbCh5SeeehTfxcY0TL5JZAbxZNIZXJqi-WAT3HKFaiwNto/s320/DSCN3179.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our headmistress with two of Jadon's students acting as the emcees for the evening! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD6idpkBRRAr9KLsZhqFzdRrN-VPCqOWd6zYZ89hleaTgaNr51QQbCYouWJgz9prx4XM2hZrYjUhgNOhgGg0uIFfQn7_smo9PhWiQg7ufVWzLinXEReMRChZBADbxl_gicBJshXEzJkFuc/s1600/DSCN3187.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD6idpkBRRAr9KLsZhqFzdRrN-VPCqOWd6zYZ89hleaTgaNr51QQbCYouWJgz9prx4XM2hZrYjUhgNOhgGg0uIFfQn7_smo9PhWiQg7ufVWzLinXEReMRChZBADbxl_gicBJshXEzJkFuc/s320/DSCN3187.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jan Jakub, one of our drama club students played a theme from Game of Thrones - it was SO good! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYX6Vy3F9I4GbDpPfzQmUPp4paiXUy18DlmzKSg0Clf9T2l-S08PpAWLULpgxuKQ5CtyMYbDiwHIBWwTapgWM-rPUrunoSeCoLPH-dCcCJXbV5xE8w9TMtKvMMRq7aNI99wL6o0sbjnnY-/s1600/11227553_10100104473910937_6050480407365562528_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYX6Vy3F9I4GbDpPfzQmUPp4paiXUy18DlmzKSg0Clf9T2l-S08PpAWLULpgxuKQ5CtyMYbDiwHIBWwTapgWM-rPUrunoSeCoLPH-dCcCJXbV5xE8w9TMtKvMMRq7aNI99wL6o0sbjnnY-/s320/11227553_10100104473910937_6050480407365562528_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lucie,
Karina, Brittany, Denise, Marketa, & Natalie - these girls have
been such a blessing to us this year! Whenever we didn't know what was
happening at an event, which was often, they were wonderful
translators/situation explainers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Prayer Requests:<br />
- Visas. We are still waiting to be approved. There were two problems with our paper work (though neither were our fault, so we feel good about that!). We think those problems are resolved, so hopefully we will be approved soon. The visas we currently have don't expire until August 31, so we have so time to get it all sorted out.<br />
- Travel. Tomorrow we fly back to the Kansas with two layovers, one in London and one in Chicago. All together we'll be traveling around 21 hours, so prayers that all flight connections are made and all luggage makes it.<br />
- Reverse Culture Shock. Going back home after 10 months away is exciting, but from past travel experiences, we know that reverse culture shock (the culture shock of coming home) can be much harder to deal with than the culture shocks of a new place. So prayers for patience and grace with ourselves and from others.<br />
<br />
Praises:<br />
- Friends! We have made so many great friendships here, with students, fellow teachers, and other ex-pats. Reflecting back on the past year makes us see how great these friendships are & how much we value them.<br />
- Summer Vacation! The school year lasting until June 30 feels LONGGG to we who are not used to it, so we are glad to finally be on our two month vacation!<br />
- Heading Home! We're so looking forward to being back in the States, seeing friends & family, and getting free refills of ice water! Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-22650499440353141272015-06-15T04:17:00.000-07:002015-06-15T04:17:52.923-07:00Sending Us MailSince we receive mail at our school here in Prague, if you want to send anything to us from today (June 15) until August 15, please mail it to either Jadon's parents or Brittany's parents in the States. <br /><br />
We will be at school until June 30, but it is unlikely that anything mailed after today will reach us before we are done for the school year.<br />
<br />
If you need the address for either sets of parents, just email one of us (bhuddleston@teachbeyond.org OR jhuddleston@teachbeyond.org), and we can give you that information.<br />
<br />
We'd love to hear from you this summer!<br />
<br />Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-92124176700697895952015-06-13T04:41:00.001-07:002015-06-13T04:41:51.908-07:00Hokejbal Czech Championship!
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Written by
Jadon</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A couple
of weeks ago, Brittany and I had the chance to watch a friend play in the Czech
Championship in Hokejbal (Hockey Ball in English)—a sport that since the beginning of the school year,
it seems, has been mentioned once every week or so in one of my English
Conversation classes—and being fans of hockey, we had so much fun!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Basically,
Hokejbal is ice hockey without the ice and without skates. The game we saw took
place on a pavement surface similar to blacktop, and the players, though
dressed in all the other typical hockey regalia (pads, helmets, etc.), wore
tennis shoes and ran back and forth rather than skating. The other major
difference is the “puck.” Instead of being a flat rubber disk, Hokejbal is
played with—you guessed it—a small orange plastic ball. There are a few other minor
rule differences, but they are somewhat technical, and I won’t get into them.
This means that someone like me—who can’t skate worth beans—could play
Hokejbal, although it still takes a lot of skill with a hockey stick.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVq05wqZ1xXRvSZBKzQ6NFOIr3oeWABwO-ZR9t9F175fLpr_XgyhX-vxIloIINzGFmsWIODtZHAY4d1DsF-jrAMPuG0xlaYc1RAJ1oeXjeu5CFRtYjIctTHgRADXby6j59eNNltSb5cMu/s1600/IMG_2296.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVq05wqZ1xXRvSZBKzQ6NFOIr3oeWABwO-ZR9t9F175fLpr_XgyhX-vxIloIINzGFmsWIODtZHAY4d1DsF-jrAMPuG0xlaYc1RAJ1oeXjeu5CFRtYjIctTHgRADXby6j59eNNltSb5cMu/s320/IMG_2296.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hokejbal face off</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The last
game of the Hokejbal Championship—the one we watched—took place in Kladno, a
medium-sized city only a 25 minute train ride from Prague. Kladno is where all
the best Czech ice hockey players are from, and quite a few of our students as
well. This was our first time in Kladno, and we are glad that we went with
Czech speaking friends, because there is not nearly as much English spoken in
Kladno as in Prague, and our Czech is still quite limited. But Kladno is much
more similar to Bourbonnais/Kankakee in size and atmosphere than Prague, and it
was great to get out of the city.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinY4hYRZH4M8QjuVOgnNwgsOWKUNbgq4LcMwq3ZmdLDGPeFbDCYhfS79uCubHr_QREXjG7VVwYNYiQR0E6ytQ4xIOfMO6RohvEtWR2uGfcVjkwhd8hjAfzZu_4gaC6_s8JkVpl8UAleoy4/s1600/IMG_2298.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinY4hYRZH4M8QjuVOgnNwgsOWKUNbgq4LcMwq3ZmdLDGPeFbDCYhfS79uCubHr_QREXjG7VVwYNYiQR0E6ytQ4xIOfMO6RohvEtWR2uGfcVjkwhd8hjAfzZu_4gaC6_s8JkVpl8UAleoy4/s320/IMG_2298.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the stands with my former student Nikos and his brother!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And they
won!! It was so much fun to watch Jakub and his team become the best Hokejbal
players in the Czech Republic. And we really enjoyed hanging out Nikos and Vašek
–the four of us were the best fans, except for the guys with fireworks… And,
Jakub, if you are reading this, let us know when your games are next year!! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY2xVeIvy4z4GMjV4G7HzJ9oFoFmHcQX9tGCoHE4fLcAm5jG-jXCxrAKrl96SU0DkTK6QjaPJbA_yX8HiIc_7wMpEUXD1IG3pUiWpRnlxaSIhbx5q1m-2Cq824MVocOk4OubIzdEpn4okK/s1600/IMG_2305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY2xVeIvy4z4GMjV4G7HzJ9oFoFmHcQX9tGCoHE4fLcAm5jG-jXCxrAKrl96SU0DkTK6QjaPJbA_yX8HiIc_7wMpEUXD1IG3pUiWpRnlxaSIhbx5q1m-2Cq824MVocOk4OubIzdEpn4okK/s320/IMG_2305.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crazy Hokejbal fans celebrating the victory! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>
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Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-43032647967534775262015-06-08T01:11:00.001-07:002015-06-08T01:11:38.067-07:00Czech Culture: Maturita Exams
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Written by
Brittany</span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">During the first
and third weeks of May, our fourth year (senior) students took their final exam
called the Maturita.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is
different than any type of exam we do in the US. Each student picks 3 or 4 subjects
they want to graduate in. Within those subjects there are 25-30 topics they
must be prepared for. So within the subject of English, they could be asked
anything ranging from American cuisine to Irish history to places to visit in
Australia. Needless to say, the range is very broad.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Students begin
with the written portion during the first week of exams. They take a written
exam for each of the subjects they have chosen. Most of our students said that
the written part was the easy part. In English, the written portion consists of
reading, writing, & listening.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The second week
of exams is the more difficult part: the oral exam. For their oral exam,
students pick one of the 25-30 topics from a bag and have 15 minutes to prepare
what they will say. The oral exams are “open to the public,” which means anyone
can come and watch them. We were able to watch three of our students do their
oral exams. This is helpful for the younger students so they can see what the
exams will be like, but I’m sure it is an added pressure for the students being
examined. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are two
types of Maturita:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
State exam – the state exam is a little easier. This type lasts for 15 minutes,
but the students have to speak on their chosen topic for only 5 minutes, and
then their teacher gives them other speaking tasks. These tasks would include describing
& comparing two pictures and then having a short conversation with the
teacher based on a given prompt.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
School exam – the school exam is more difficult. Students have to speak for 15
minutes on their chosen topic. The teacher is allowed to ask questions to help
the student think of more things to say, but for the most part, the student
should be able to fill the full 15 minutes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">We were able to
observe both types of exam, and the students we watched did very well. This
exam is also much more formal than any US testing as the students and teachers
(and even observers) should dress up for the exam. All our students wore suit
coats and ties or skirts and blouses. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">And Hallelujah,
all our fourth year students passed! We are very proud of them & all the
hard work they had to do to prepare & complete their exams. Now they are
preparing for their university entrance exams – here you don’t just apply to
university, you have to take a test to be accepted. So if they want to apply to
a few universities, they have to take an entrance exam with each one. We wish
them so much luck as they continue!!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Prayer Requests:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
go home in less than a month (yay!), but we still have 3 full weeks of school
before we leave (Czech schools don’t get out until June 30), so prayers that we
finish well and with good focus. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our
Visa situation – we’re now playing the waiting game again, so prayers for our
peace/patience and that everything goes well.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some
members of our Teach Beyond team are moving back to the States this month and
many others are traveling home, so prayers for safe travels as well as good
transitions back into life in the US.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
American university students from CRU were a great group to have in our
classrooms and have made some good friendships with our students, so prayers
that those will continue even once they’ve left Prague.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Praises:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our
power went out for a while on Saturday night, but our landlord came over after
9pm to fix it for us. So grateful for him & his kindness!</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">We have
friends from home coming to stay with us today, and they’ll be here until
Friday! </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">We’ve
had hot days, but have managed to find good shade outside & bought a new
fan, so we haven’t suffered too much without air conditioning! </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
have been meeting new people and making new friends at our church! </span></div>
Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-8067620344851828862015-06-05T09:08:00.002-07:002015-06-05T09:08:31.023-07:00Visa Update: Post-AppointmentThis morning we had our appointment to get our Visas renewed.<br />
<br />
This was our first of three appointments we will have to complete the process. Today was when we took in our applications & officially applied for the renewal.<br />
We now wait to hear if we are approved.<br />
Once approved, we go back in to get our pictures & fingerprints taken.<br />
And then for the final appointment, probably about 3 weeks later, we just go to pay for & pick up our new employment cards.<br />
<br />
Our current cards don't expire until August 31, so as long as nothing goes terribly wrong, we should have everything completed by then.<br />
<br />
We were blessed today to have a secretary from our school come with us, and it turned out to be very helpful because there were a couple moments that could have been very stressful/confusing, but she was able to take care of it for us.<br />
<br />
Blessings upon blessings everywhere we turn.<br />
Thanks for your prayers! Please keep our visa situation on your prayer list for the next couple months as everything gets officially worked out. We'll keep you updated on our next two appointments. Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-23895865562896606612015-06-03T22:18:00.000-07:002015-06-03T22:18:08.865-07:00Quick Visa Update!Somehow it has already been 3 months since our employee cards were finalized, and now they are about to expire.<br />
<br />
SO we start again.<br />
<br />
We have been told that the renewal process should be much easier (no trips to Berlin necessary!), and we hope this to be the case.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow (Friday) morning we have an appointment to go to the Ministry of Interior at 9:00am. We think we have all the paperwork necessary
and hope that it will be an easy appointment.<br />
<br />
So if you would please add our Visas back on your prayer list, we would very much appreciate it. Prayers that all our paperwork is together & correctly filled out, prayers that the appointments go smoothly, & prayers that we can have peace about it whatever happens.<br />
<br />
We will update again on Friday afternoon with our (hopefully good) results.<br />
As always, thank you for the prayers & support! Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448144192265389613.post-2796374458883621142015-06-02T01:24:00.001-07:002015-06-02T01:24:43.621-07:00Birthday Weekend in Salzburg, Austria!
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Written by
Brittany</span>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">My birthday, May
8, is a national holiday in the Czech Republic. It’s called Liberation Day and
is similar to our VE Day, celebrating the end of WWII in the CZ. Because of
this wonderful coincidence, we did not have school on my birthday, which was
the second Friday in May.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">When we first
arrived back in the fall, we looked ahead at all our school breaks and tried to
figure out what we’d want to do for each one. This was the easiest one to plan.
There was a perfect tour we could purchase for two nights in Salzburg during my
birthday weekend. The “tour” included our accommodations as well as a 4-hour <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sound of Music</i> bus tour. So the trip we
had booked since September was finally here! </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiysfq2Ok_6yrCL14jDmuDG2z_JqAMT-WaPSVKHIWkKzBL9y9JdXwhRm9Q_jiEDj636jnKYFVOdM1YecUht83XgpICRfs5zORQeE976Jy3tbS7Es7pF_CG-DysSNtidwWRJ7QdMDO7BWAZM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-05-12+at+2.15.21+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiysfq2Ok_6yrCL14jDmuDG2z_JqAMT-WaPSVKHIWkKzBL9y9JdXwhRm9Q_jiEDj636jnKYFVOdM1YecUht83XgpICRfs5zORQeE976Jy3tbS7Es7pF_CG-DysSNtidwWRJ7QdMDO7BWAZM/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-05-12+at+2.15.21+PM.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">We arrived in
Salzburg around 11am on Friday and went to our hotel. Our hotel was probably
the highlight of the trip. The hotel shared grounds with the Palace
Leopoldskron, which was used as the grounds & garden for the von Trapp
house in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Sound of Music</i>! If you
remember the scene where they capsize the canoe on the lake, that’s where we
were. (There were two houses used, the other for the actual building and where
we stayed for all the outside shots of the grounds.) So when we first arrived
we spent some time just walking around in awe of the view <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and reenacting some of the scenes from the
movie. </span>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhok3-Konjkv85Ily3amRnZbVksR-uRwQ0CNr8sh_FPLnxtSKDeLclkRn2ENPM4-rnqdvreWd_xDQ-1UsR0rqJRJFa9AlDEZnlY7HWMdMOMp6PU4QORWEDHuc1nThl8ax0Zy9HCpxVAjzEd/s1600/IMG_2225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhok3-Konjkv85Ily3amRnZbVksR-uRwQ0CNr8sh_FPLnxtSKDeLclkRn2ENPM4-rnqdvreWd_xDQ-1UsR0rqJRJFa9AlDEZnlY7HWMdMOMp6PU4QORWEDHuc1nThl8ax0Zy9HCpxVAjzEd/s320/IMG_2225.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from our hotel!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since it was
still early in the day, we ordered a picnic from our hotel, complete with
blanket & map of picnic places, and found a public park nearby to relax
with a beautiful view of the Alps. It was a wonderful way to actually spend
time relaxing together.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> And really just the picnic and the amazing hotel already made it a fantastic birthday. </span>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Tg-YdqZ0DLcv_ATpltqDHoT8HFhyphenhyphen5KIaegBl4YhgKT_t2heEdH5vfPLRM8xWtU8yfv_ZqeYXHeTaPYNPlUanwNRnn23AHTpIY8lIXNTN_d8Vsk4jZrXS3HRt8iXM2WV2kEVuHRNo6-8O/s1600/DSCN2775.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Tg-YdqZ0DLcv_ATpltqDHoT8HFhyphenhyphen5KIaegBl4YhgKT_t2heEdH5vfPLRM8xWtU8yfv_ZqeYXHeTaPYNPlUanwNRnn23AHTpIY8lIXNTN_d8Vsk4jZrXS3HRt8iXM2WV2kEVuHRNo6-8O/s320/DSCN2775.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from our picnic</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After that we
walked about 20 minutes to get to Old Town Salzburg and did some sightseeing.
There were many beautiful squares, old churches, and souvenir shops. My favorite
place of the whole trip was Mirabell Gardens, where much of the “Do-Re-Mi”
sequence was filmed in the movie. We went there each day we were in Salzburg,
and it was so beautiful.</span>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIBePzDVOOJjJgZTC9eKC_sT-t-W2brtfpiKIMaAFnT3w8nv2CgK2b0bz8XUy6u5Zb3guU2hCl8kunTMGdtCP3AnDEBSXrdd1Qvm-lsuyn_6EAynz6q6ajtS6pPigAm_oovQZB2ymIqJBz/s1600/DSCN2849.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIBePzDVOOJjJgZTC9eKC_sT-t-W2brtfpiKIMaAFnT3w8nv2CgK2b0bz8XUy6u5Zb3guU2hCl8kunTMGdtCP3AnDEBSXrdd1Qvm-lsuyn_6EAynz6q6ajtS6pPigAm_oovQZB2ymIqJBz/s320/DSCN2849.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dancing around the fountain like they do in the movie!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzgrkR6KObKjesKI-zbOPNtk8RPUv4eHjr98uu7baH9L7IFBbxpWgsbX5_N8WCYB6sfRLpwzs9Zx9hV499MgsiYkA0la3Vj2TA-LkMqBP9OmrOlnPr1CbfLo6ic1Qyb0ORut1Fxd_d3P2-/s1600/DSCN2986.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzgrkR6KObKjesKI-zbOPNtk8RPUv4eHjr98uu7baH9L7IFBbxpWgsbX5_N8WCYB6sfRLpwzs9Zx9hV499MgsiYkA0la3Vj2TA-LkMqBP9OmrOlnPr1CbfLo6ic1Qyb0ORut1Fxd_d3P2-/s320/DSCN2986.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More of the beautiful gardens!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">That night we
went to see a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sound of Music</i> show at
a marionette theater, which was a new experience for both of us. It was both
very silly & very impressive. </span>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">On Saturday we
had our official <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sound of Music</i> tour.
Our hotel was the first stop of the tour, but since it is considered private
property, the closest the tour group can get is a view from across the lake. We
were so glad we had a more “up-close” view of such a beautiful place!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the tour we also got to see the 16 Going
on 17 gazebo; Nonnberg Abbey, the church where Maria & the captain get
married; as well as some of the vistas that were used in the opening scenes.
The tour ended at the Mirabell Gardens. Probably the most interesting thing we
learned on the tour is that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Sound of
Music</i> is not popular with Austrians. Most of them know the real story of
Maria & the von Trapp family, but don’t know anything about the musical.
It’s mainly people from English speaking countries who come to Salzburg excited
about the film. </span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcpuNeDE8RH4VdRQPelVrVeFWVAGiy9mbBs0OWqIVLon4lXNbsTMaOLhwDotvoIpu2BzcV7sJuMWQcWUDEEfYPfSFb-SshwIsQigTNQqDCOPwNqWTBH4NpR5f0oA5FAbwNIl7kQNQSvJbH/s1600/DSCN2874.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcpuNeDE8RH4VdRQPelVrVeFWVAGiy9mbBs0OWqIVLon4lXNbsTMaOLhwDotvoIpu2BzcV7sJuMWQcWUDEEfYPfSFb-SshwIsQigTNQqDCOPwNqWTBH4NpR5f0oA5FAbwNIl7kQNQSvJbH/s320/DSCN2874.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After the tour
we did some more exploring of the old town on our own and found other places
featured in the film, including this view of Salburg which is also part of the “Do-Re-Mi”
sequence. (Really the part of the movie was filmed ALL over Salzburg, so a lot
of what we saw was from that song.)</span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDxkif0FoksPzOW0KKCmZLaP1XABDMOBzgvmTr32uNaWWydtDCQoTnhjSI_xeN2rusAYfUfjqIzpBklRN8cIUt4Yp0KWyaXVkf5fwYooHL0VeqimEVzdzlVC4nHYNbupJk6fa8i61TymvN/s1600/DSCN2940.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDxkif0FoksPzOW0KKCmZLaP1XABDMOBzgvmTr32uNaWWydtDCQoTnhjSI_xeN2rusAYfUfjqIzpBklRN8cIUt4Yp0KWyaXVkf5fwYooHL0VeqimEVzdzlVC4nHYNbupJk6fa8i61TymvN/s320/DSCN2940.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">That night we
went to a Sounds of Salzburg dinner show, which was a great way to end the day.
It featured songs from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sound of Music</i>,
Austrian folk songs, and pieces form Mozart’s operas. (Salzburg’s other claim
to fame is that Mozart was born there. We didn’t learn too much about him this
time, so we’ll just have to go back!) There were other people from our bus tour
who were also there that evening, so we were able to enjoy the time & bond
with some other <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sound of Music</i> fans
from Australia, LA, & Scotland. </span>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our final day
there we did our last bit of sightseeing, visiting the Palace </span><span class="hascaption"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Frohnburg, which was the actual building used for the von
Trapp house. Also there is the lane where the children are climbing the trees
& where Maria sings “I Have Confidence.” One more visit to the Mirabell
Gardens and some final relaxing with the view at our hotel, and then it was
time to go. </span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGqWskdBnF-0INJLKcZpxG-w9CE9Pd6DT9W5hFv_SXpgmoVGza6vPMVv-1MZKhQJOsIy-wJotMlHxR70ATGMKZlXu3w14-nW6LGoA-_18rMOTUVmOFTFCgVZG8nLyA6HmsI_r86pTYiWQy/s1600/DSCN2968.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGqWskdBnF-0INJLKcZpxG-w9CE9Pd6DT9W5hFv_SXpgmoVGza6vPMVv-1MZKhQJOsIy-wJotMlHxR70ATGMKZlXu3w14-nW6LGoA-_18rMOTUVmOFTFCgVZG8nLyA6HmsI_r86pTYiWQy/s320/DSCN2968.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="hascaption"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span><span class="hascaption"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span><span class="hascaption"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This was such a wonderful trip, and I’m
not sure another birthday will be able to top #28! </span></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdOY-nWBIvVgLndyaFGkGld6bjHtLxNFN4tvxb7KszLps9_25B_PfogeLUJQ_yooZb5UTk2GTaiF6RYxH1pHJNjL55Uc3LdOemXXY-6_h3pUcWlZTgCJgbyXqf2cA8E8fThIFMZq0E830s/s1600/IMG_2240.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdOY-nWBIvVgLndyaFGkGld6bjHtLxNFN4tvxb7KszLps9_25B_PfogeLUJQ_yooZb5UTk2GTaiF6RYxH1pHJNjL55Uc3LdOemXXY-6_h3pUcWlZTgCJgbyXqf2cA8E8fThIFMZq0E830s/s320/IMG_2240.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="hascaption"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span><span class="hascaption"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span><span class="hascaption"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For more pictures from our trip, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.989456754267.1073741857.69601108&type=1&l=04ede1c47f" target="_blank">click here!</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span>
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Jadon and Brittany Huddlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02064245237380452991noreply@blogger.com0