Kde 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.

A video of the Czech anthem (with Czech, English, and German lyrics):

In the end it came down to two things for us: personal growth & God's plan.
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.

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."
And neither choice seemed easy.
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.

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?"
And so we would very much appreciate your prayers.
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.
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.

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.

Praha // Prague

Prayer Requests:
- For our transition time over the next few months as we prepare to return to life in the US.
- Also, once we're back in the States, we will need jobs, a place to live, health insurance, a car, etc.
- 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!

Praises:
- We had an intern with us through Teach Beyond this past week, and she was amazing.
- Spring weather is here! We had 5 straight days of sunshine this week!
- Brittany's mom is coming to visit in 11 days!

Easter 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.

Our route: Prague to Amsterdam

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.]
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.
All in all, it was a great way to spend our final school vacation.

A Dutch favorite: Fries with fritessaus

On the canal cruise

One of the many beautiful canal, bridge, & bike scenes - with a bonus of sunshine & blue skies!

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.

Two of the eight windmills in Zaandam

Marken's Harbor

Inside the wooden shoe factory & store!

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.

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 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!

Beautiful church in the Begijnhof

Inside the church, stained glass featuring the Pilgrims.

To see the rest of our pictures from Amsterdam, click here!

Prayer Requests:
- 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!
- 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. 

Praises:
- 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! 
- 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!)

Spring 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!
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.
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.

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.

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.

The view from our favorite cafe spot!

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!

Beautiful view of Kaprun from the castle.

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.

Brittany coming into the end of the coaster.

And, going up!

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.

The second ski lift & beautiful view!

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.

We were blessed with such gorgeous weather - we could see so far! This is the view into Kaprun from way up high.

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.
To see the rest of our pictures, click here!

Prayer Requests:
- English Drama Club! The performance is in less than 4 weeks, so prayers for our students and ourselves as we continue to prepare.
- We will be traveling again next week for our Easter holidays, so prayers for easy & safe travels. 

Praises:
- We are getting glimpses of spring, and are really looking forward to the warmer weather & sunshine heading our way!
- 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.

Ples 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.
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!).
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.

Here are some pictures to walk you through the fun event:

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.

To begin, each 4th year class does a creative walk-in with their class teachers.

Students are then given sash, a different color for each of the 5 different classes.

Group pictures are taken of each class, as well as individual pictures of each student.

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.

My student waltz partner, Richard. We were arguably the best dancers.

Jadon with his student dance partner, Viktoria. I love this picture! [Shout out to Tereza Karásková who took all the waltzing pictures for us!]

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!

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!

Ending the night around 11:30pm. So much fun! Definitely a highlight of both our years here!

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.

Congratulations Maturita Class of '16!

December & 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.
Aside from our Christmas vacation travels, however, not much as been going on recently.
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.

**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.

Our route through Italy. We flew to & from, but all our other travel was done via train.

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 ;)

We took a bunch of pictures, and if you haven't seen them, you can see them all here:
Pictures from Rome!
Pictures from Florence!
Pictures from Venice!

**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.

**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!

Four of the musicals featured in the show.

**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!

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.

**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.
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!

Prayer Requests:
- Health. This is definitely cold & flu season. We've both been slightly sick since Christmas, but nothing too bad. Hoping it stays that way!
- Relationships with friends, colleagues, & students here in Prague. We are making lasting friendships, and hope to continue to do so.
- Guidance in future decisions.

Praises:
- 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!
- God's continued presence in our lives & the joy that comes when we hear His voice & seek His guidance.

Four Thanksgivings and a Christmas Market

A 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.
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.

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.

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.

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.

Finally, on Thanksgiving day, we shared a wonderful meal with our Bible study group (and some other friends). 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!

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!

Prague's largest Christmas market is in Old Town Square

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.

 

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!

30 Days Where We Live

For 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!

Day One: The view from our balcony

Day Two: Our local pošta (post office) - so if you ever get mail from us, it comes from here!

Day Three: 12 Czech weirdos led by 2 American weirdos = English Drama Club. Love it!

Day Four: The lane between our school & the metro. Beautiful on a wet fall day!

Day Five: Behind these willows is our apartment building. So this is literally where we live.

Day Six: Riding the green line metro - it's similar to an underground subway.

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.

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.

Day Nine: Sunset at the bus stop

Day Ten: Our favorite movie theater!

Day Eleven: Our street sign (and the fence it's on).

Day Twelve: This was on a Sunday afternoon that we spent enjoying some great orchestra music in this beautiful building, The Rudolfinum.

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.

Day Fourteen: Out near a favorite restaurant after meeting a friend for coffee & talks of travel.

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.

Day Sixteen: Here we have Jadon at the main door of our apartment building. The window above the door is our bedroom.

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.

Day Eighteen: Part of our walk home from the bus stop.

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!

Day Twenty: Cute little cabins at the retreat center. Beautiful warm, sunny day!

Day Twenty One: Pretty much what every evening looks like. Chicago hockey & kaiser roll garlic bread. Livin' the dream.

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.

Day Twenty Three: Yellow school, yellow leaves, cloudy day.

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.

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.

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.)

Day Twenty Seven: Always enjoy the services at our church here in Prague, Faith Community Church.

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!

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.)

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.

Now come visit Prague & you can see all this great stuff for yourself!