English Weekend

        This past weekend was a blast! Friday evening, I spent time with Anicka. Anicka, Martina and I went bowling. Vsetin has a small bowling alley with 4 lanes and a small casino attached to it. It was surprisingly busy but most of the people there were hanging out, drinking beer. We had a lane to ourselves for 1 hour. We were able to play 3 games, 2 of which I won! :) I didn't break 100 points...but it was a lot of fun. Saturday morning I headed to Malenovice where English Weekend was held. The theme of the weekend was "A Trip to the USA". Students started arriving around 9:00am and we all checked into our rooms. We had an hour of introduction and getting to know each other and the first lesson was at 11. I taught about traveling through the airport and flying. We reviewed vocabulary they knew and I introduced them to new words such as "barf bag. Lunch was at noon and they served salmon and mashed potatoes. We had about 3 hours of free time after lunch. Some people went for a walk, some took naps, and I played ping pong and darts. At 4, there was another English lesson and at 5 Brad and I gave the powerpoint presentation.
Our presentation was "A Trip to the USA" and we talked about popular places to travel to in the US. We took them to Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Colorado, South Dakota, California, and Hawaii. Dinner was at 6 and we had Spaghetti with meatballs which was delicious. I led the evening program "The Money". I gave a presentation comparing the salaries and costs of things in the Czech Republic verses in the United States. I wanted the students to think about what money means to them and realize that what we spend our money on reflects what is important to us and what is in our hearts. Kevin Wolfe and I both shared part of our testimony afterward. I really just shared what God has been doing in my during my stay in Czech and why I came to Czech in the first place. Many students were asking what I was doing here and how can I work for free and how I got the money to spend 3 months abroad. So, it was a great time of sharing what God has done in my life and what is most important to me. After the evening talk, we had a time to hang out and talk with one another.
         Sunday morning, we had breakfast and then 3 more English lessons. For lunch, we had hamburgers and french fries. The students were asking me how to eat it which totally made my day. Some of them had never had hamburgers and french fries. Czech style hamburgers are not  quite the same as an American hamburger but it was good. I told the students to pick up the french fries with their hands instead of using a fork and they looked at me like I was crazy. :) After lunch, everyone headed home. Overall, the English Weekend went great. I am so happy I was a part of it and hope that I can be a part of it again in the future.

After lunch on Sunday, Lucie, Vlastik, and I hiked to the top of Lysa Hora. The trail is about 10 miles long and most of it is very steep terrain. We started the trail at 1:30 and reached the top at 2:50. We made it in only 80 minutes which means we were averaging 8 minute miles while walking! It was quite the workout but totally worth it! At the top, Vlastik showed me the mountains over in Polland and the border between Slovakia and Czech Republic lies. It was a stunning sight! I hiked Lysa Hora last summer with the kids from camp but when we reached the top, it was so foggy, we couldn't see 100 ft. in front of us. So today, we could see everything and it was truly an amazing view. God's creation is magnificant and I am so happy and blessed to have had the opportunity to see it from the top of this mountain.

“We have seen that the Son of God created the world for this very end, to communicate Himself in an image of His own excellency. ... When we behold the light and brightness of the sun, the golden edges of an evening cloud, or the beauteous (rain)bow, we behold the adumbrations of His glory and goodness; and in the blue sky, of his mildness and gentleness.”

— Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

Spring is Here!

Last weekend was great! Friday night was "Blue Club". Blue club means that the boys are responsible for planning all the activities for Club/Youth Group. They did a great job! The theme was "April Fool's Day" so they had quite a few jokes to play on us girls. All of the guys had their clothes on backwards-- pants and everything. It looked quite weird... They also switched the Coca-Cola and Kofola and Orange juice and milk. We played games and Brad continued with the story of Cain and Abel.

After Club, some of the girls had a sleepover at Majak. It was fun. Lucie talked about image. We watched some You Tube videos about retouching photographs in magazines and on billboards. I taught the girls a workout and we made a vegetable salad together. We also took some pictures using Photo Booth. Only 4 girls came to the sleepover but I enjoyed getting to know each of them a bit better.


Saturday morning some of us from Majak helped with landscaping in the town square. It was cold and rainy but with about 20 people volunteering, we were able to finish the work quickly. Kevin and Susan Wolfe arrived in Vsetin Friday evening so Saturday afternoon I spent time with them. Susan, Lenka, Dada, and I hung out Saturday night while the men were at an Elders meeting. Kevin taught at church on Sunday. It was so nice to hear a preaching in English!  :) Sunday afternoon Freddy and Lenka had a small BBQ at their place. After the evening church service, we all went to dinner at Hotel Magistr.


I am not teaching classes in the schools this week. I am very busy preparing for English Weekend this weekend so I am spending most of my time planning my lessons and putting together a powerpoint presentation.  I move to my last house tonight where I will stay for the last 3 weeks of my trip. 

Czech It Out!

Many of you know that I am a certified Emerency Medical Technician and my passion is emergency medicine. Well....last night I had the opportunity to see a Czech Ambulance! One of my students at Majak is married to a doctor who works for the ambulance services. I shared with my class my future plans for a career in medicine which led to an invitation to see how emergency medicine is done here in Czech. What a great experience it was!

Here in Vsetin, there is one ambulance station with 4 ambulances. There are 4 pairs of paramedics & EMTs (equivalents) and 2 doctors on at any given time. There are a couple of ambulances stationed at the hospital and in a nearby town, one more ambulance with a crew of two. The "Zlin Region" in which the emergency medical services respond to stretches over 40 km (all the way to the Slovokian border). Dan, (the doctor who showed me around) told me it can take over an hour to arrive at a call depending on the route they have to take, weather, and other factors.

They too, work 12 hour shifts. The inside of the ambulances look very similar to that of an American ambulance. They also have different numbers you call if you have an emergency. The number for the Medical Emergency service is 155. The number for the Fire Department is 150 and 158 for the Police Department. The dispatch center is in Zlin which is 35 km from Vsetin. Dispatch decides what crew goes on the call-- 2 or 3 man crew with a doctor.

When a call comes in, the dispatch comes over the intercom and says which crew will go (saying the ambulance #). The details of the call print from the computer and the map on the computer shows the crew where they must go.  The new ambulance has a GPS system inside it also. It is not common for the crew to use radios for communication. There are so many hills and valleys in this region that they are pretty much useless. The dispatch center can track the ambulance at any given time. Czech emergency services are similar to the that of the US. Their procedures may differ a bit but in general, the equipment and practices are the same.

One Month Left in Czech!

I have one month left in the Czech Republic. The feeling is bitter-sweet. I am really enjoying my time here but I definitely miss my family and friends back home. Each week continues to get busier and busier with teaching. I am teaching 4-5 days a week at the high school and once a week at the Basic school. I usually only teach 2-3 classes a day so it's not too difficult.

English through Majak is going great. Our "English Weekend" is in 2 weeks. The theme is "A Trip to the USA". I will be talking about places I have been in the US as well as Brad & Lucie and a few others who have traveled there. Kevin & Susan from my church in Ft. Collins will be coming to Czech next week to be a part of the English weekend. I will teach 5 classes and Saturday night (the main event night), I will be giving my testimony and sharing what brought me to Czech and so on. It will be quite out of my comfort zone to share with around 50 people but God will give me the strength and courage. :) I am really excited to see what God will do that weekend. 

Hotel in Malenovice where the celebration was held.

Last weekend, I spent a good amount of time with some students from the Seminary school in Prague. A group of 20 of them came to Vsetin for the weekend to attend the Majak Anniversary Celebration in Malenovice. I had a lot of fun getting to know them and they had the perfect opportunity to practice their English. The celebration was a blast! It was so great to have the entire church family together! A few people shared their testimony, Freddy gave an annual update, we had a wonderful lunch, and the rest of the afternoon we had free time. There was a ton of snow in Malenovice so we all stayed inside playing games, napping, or just talking.


I had the opportunity to spend a couple days with the Kaspar family. Adam, who is 13 months old, took his first steps and I was there to witness it! I almost started crying and screamed so loud in excitement that Adam almost started crying. We had a great time together. Brad & Lucie are my adopted parents while I am here in Czech. I have been truly blessed by them and their hospitality. I went swimming with Lucie and Adam Thursday afternoon. The pool in Vsetin is really nice and I enjoyed playing with Adam. Thursday night we had a group of people over and taught how to make Banana Bread. It turned out perfect!
Yesterday we had club/youth group at the field. We played baseball for a couple hours and Lucie shared the story about Cain and Abel. It was pretty cold but the kids had a blast. This morning, I taught the Hurta girls how to make Chocolate Chip cookies. Half of them didn't look very good but they tasted great! Tonight, I am playing volleyball like usual. Tomorrow, Brad is giving the sermon. I will attend the CB/Jasenka church service in the morning, have lunch at Mary & Pavel's place, and then go to the 5pm service at Majak.

Sun setting behind the hill across the valley

This coming week is filled with teaching. I also have the opportunity to see the inside of a Czech Ambulance, see the Vsetin hospital, and spend some time with a doctor looking at x-rays and such. Friday after club/youth group, the girls are having a Slumberparty at Majak. I am going to teach them a workout, we will talk about relationships, do eachother's hair, and watch a romance movie. I am really looking forward to some quality girl time! Saturday is a service day so we as a church, will be spending the morning picking up trash and serving the town of Vsetin as much as possible.

Lighthouse Cup 2011

This past week, I was busy teaching as usual. I have continued to get more opportunities to teach at the high school here and I am enjoying every minute of it.

      Saturday was the Majak (Lighthouse) Volleyball Tournament.  We had 4 teams: Club/Youth group, Worship team, English studio team, and a team of a mixture of people. It was a lot of fun! My team won the first game but unfortunately lost the rest of them so we took last in the tournament. It was a great time to spend with people from church as well as some others I hadn't met before. All of the regular tournament games were rally scoring, played to 15 points. When the playoffs started, rally scoring continued but the games went to 25 points.
  



     It was the first volleyball tournament Majak has done and it was a big success. They plan to do it annually and hope that more people will attend next year. The tournament winners received a chocolate medal. Their team was great--they work well together and have a lot of talent.

Majak Volleyball Tourmament 2011

Czech Ball and All

This past week was the most eventful week so far. On Monday, I went to the Sycrov basic school and taught 3rd & 6th grade English. The 3rd graders were adorable and we had a fun time practicing colors and numbers. They asked when I was going to come back. :) Tuesday I spent most of the day, relaxing and in bed because I wasn't feeling well. The whole town of Vsetin has been sick for the past couple of weeks and I seemed to take part. Tuesday I taught English at Majak as I do every Tuesday.

Wednesday, I visited a young girl who is interested in private English lessons to get to know her a bit and figure out a time for lessons. I start teaching/helping her with English tomorrow at 4pm. Also on Wednesday, Jirka & Marcela invited me to dinner at a new restaurant in town called Rosmaryn. There were a total of 9 of us at dinner, all of which are students in Majak English Studio but most of them are Mary's students, not mine. It was a great couple of hours for them to practice their English and just enjoy each others company. The food was amazing. It took about an hour for our food to come out and we were beginning to get impatient until they delivered our food and it looked like this. Each plate was decorated differently with different vegetables and the food tasted just as great as it looked! The Kofola was definitely the "icing on the cake".

 Thursday I taught at the Gymnazium again. We discussed American Holidays and played Fish Bowl. I also taught at the Sychrov Basic school, like usual. Thursday afternoon I moved from Hanka's place in Rybniky over to the Hurta's place in Jasenka. I am living with a family of 6 now which is quite a bit change considering it was just Hanka and I for the first month I was here.
     Friday, I spent the morning at Brad and Lucie's place. Lucie and I made a huge omelet for lunch and we planned out activities for Club. Club this week had the theme of "Superheroes and Princesses". Each student had to dress up as either a Superhero or Princess. I showed a powerpoint on popular Superheroes and Princesses in America which included Superman, Spiderman, Ironman, Priness Ariel, Princess Aurora, and many more. We played a game of "speed dating" where you had 2 minutes with each person and had to ask a series of questions. At the end, we were quizzed on what each person said. It was a great game to get to know each other a bit more. Lucie talked about the characteristics of a superhero and what traits God has.

We had a Club meeting at 9 am Saturday morning at Majak. We talked about upcoming events and the significance of attending club on a regular basis. The team also discussed ideas for a fun weekend they could invite their non-believer friends to. The Czech ball was Saturday night. I got ready for the ball at the Kaspar's place. I borrowed a dress from Lucie and bought cheap shoes from a Vietnamese market here in town. The ball was fun. Honza taught me to dance only 2 days before so I wasn't very good at dancing. It would have been more enjoyable with a date but it was impossible to have my date come all the way from the states. There was live music, professional dancers, and some other short acts through the night. Our group was up in the balcony so we could watch everyone dancing. It was a great night of relaxing and enjoying each others' company. Balls here in the Czech Republic are very popular, especially during winter. They dance to all sorts of music, most of which was in English. The most common dance is the Vienna waltz but they also dance the Waltz, Polka, Jive, Cha-cha, and more.
    Last week was a great week and this week has been too. I had lunch at the Gymnazium high school today which was great. I was able to meet more students and their English is awesome! I am getting more opportunities to teach in the Gymnazium as well as one other high school in town so God is definitely answering prayers. Prayer Requests: That I would continue to be purposeful with my time here as I near the 1/2 point of my trip, more students would come to club, and my students from Majak would all come to the English Weekend in April.

1 month down, 2 months to go!

     Today marks the 4th week I have been in Czech! Time is flying by. My stay with Hanka is coming to an end as I will be moving over to the Hurta's place on Thursday to live with them during the month of March.
     Monday, I spent in bed all day. I got a cold from the hike on Saturday and I wasn't about to go outside in the frigid cold weather to risk getting even more sick, so I stayed in bed, watched movies, and slept. Tuesday, I relaxed during the morning and had English Studio from 4-7:30. This weeks topic was a free day--the students had to big questions/topics that they wanted to discuss. We talked about "dream jobs", artificial intelligence, wildlife & activities in Colorado, and much more. I went on about how much I want to be a nurse and my passion for taking care of people for about 30 minutes until I realized that I wasn't letting anyone else share their thoughts. I promised them next week that I will not talk much. :)
    Wednesday, I spent with the Kaspar's. Lucie called me in the morning and asked me to go to the local Butcher to get some sausage to make for lunch. She told me exactly what to say in Czech and I practiced saying it to her a few times on the phone before I headed out. I asked that she send me a text message of what to say as well, just in case I forgot. So, I walk into the Butcher shop and there are TONS of people and I got intimidated....it was my turn to order so I said to her "Neumim Cesky (I don't know Czech)" and showed her the phone with the text message on it. :) It worked and I probably made her day. Next time, I will order it on my own...I hope.
   Thursday, I taught at both the Gymnazium (high school) and the Sycrov basic school. I taught 11th grade at 8:00 am and gave a powerpoint about Holidays in America. They were a fun class but not very talkative so I am hoping next week, they will be. After the Gymnazium, I taught 7th, 8th, and 9th grade at the Sycrov basic school. We practiced pronouncing words like thanks, father, mother, this, that, and so on. (It is quite difficult for Czech's to say words with "th") I also taught "use to" questions, describing where parts of the body are, as well as animals.

The boys' domino train

 Friday, I spent the morning with the Kaspar's again. Lucie and I made kish together and it turned out yummy! Club (youth group) was at 4pm and Lucie gave the message. At church last week, the sermon was about how you can tell someone is a Christian and what are the defining marks. So, she thought it would be a good idea to cover them again because most of the students who come to club, don't come to church yet they would consider themselves Christian. The talk went well and I ended up sharing part of my testimony which was interesting. I have never done that in a public setting but it was good to help the kids understand why I live my life the way I do now and what it means to me to be Christian.

Playing Spoons

 

       I am officially the "game queen". My job title, if you will, has been established and I am in charge of the games every week until I leave at the end of April. So, at club we played Fish Bowl, Spoons, and then the kids had to build the best domino train they could in 10 minutes.
   Neither domino trains fell like they were supposed to but it was fun to watch.
   I had never played spoons until this day, though I have heard about it many times. One thing to know is that Czechs take their games very seriously...I am definitely glad we weren't play with knifes because someone would have definitely lost an eye.
  My Czech vocabulary continues to grow as the games we play and things we talk about are not always translated... forcing me to have to catch on.

   Today, we had a "Kooking with Krista" day. My parents sent a bag of chocolate chips in the "care package" they sent me for Valentine's day so I thought it would be a great idea to teach the kids how to make chocolate chip cookies. "Chocolate chips" do not exist here in the Czech Republic and brown sugar is quite expensive so it was a treat to have "real" chocolate chip cookies. Only 3 students came to learn (2 of them being guys) so Eva, Hanka, Marci, and I made the cookies while the boys hung out until the cookies were ready to eat.
This evening, a group of us from Majak played volleyball. It was a great time.


Tomorrow, I am going ice skating. I have only been 2 times in my life and I am horrible at it so it will be interesting but should be fun. I am going to have lunch at Ondrej and Hanka's (a family from Majak) and then go to church at 5:00pm. Freddy will be teaching about sex and we invited a ton of the students and their friends so I am looking forward to the service tomorrow evening and meeting new people.