Culture Shock

Luckily I have no picture to accompany this post. I love this country, I love the language, the people, the food, the nature...but there is something I just can't get over...I see it so often, people peeing in public. Maybe it is a drunk old man, but more often than not it is a mom encouraging her little boy to pee right by the store I am about to go in. Yesterday at the zoo I got an eyeful...sure there was the usual peeing near the exhibits, but one mum had her son sitting on her outstreched arms using them as a toilet while he pooed. The kicker was they were standing about 1 meter away from the public restrooms....This I cannot comprehend...in the zoo, near the bathrooms, on the path where everyone is walking...hmmm

Zidovsky hrbitov

On the path to the zoo by our home there is the town zidovsky hrbitov (Jewish cemetary). As the sign reads the last burial there was 1941 as after that all the jews had been taken to concentration camps. The cemetary is overgrown and in total disrepair...maybe because there is no longer a jewish community here in Hluboka nad Vltavou....

Scrapbook #5

A totally cute picture of Roxie at the playground in the zoo.

This one is for my mum...I know you love prairie dogs so we had to take a picture for you at the zoo...cute, eh...

Zoo Ohrada

Walking distance from our home on the lake is a very old zoo. It was built almost 100 years ago and fell into disrepair under communism. After the revolution the zoo almost shut down as the animals were all dying. Now they are taking great pains to restore it and add new exhibits. It is very cute and has some interesting animals. There is a pack of vlk (wolves) and even a lynx...I had never seen one before. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on the situation) I couldn't get a good picture of the wolves or lynx as they are behind glass. The zoo has an awesome playground that the children just loved.

Lesu Pod Hluboka...forest under Hluboka

We went for a walk last night to the castle through the forest and stopped at the lake...it is just really pretty. The water lilies are beautiful and there is a curved footbridge that reminds me of the one in Monet's garden...we were also on a hunt for boruvky...blueberries...fresh from the bush.

Lipno nad Vltavou

This is the ceske more...Czech sea...We spent 4 days here, staying at Penzion U Draka, which was very nice and completely inexpensive. This was great for our language learning as we spent everyday hearing only Czech and speaking only Czech. By Sunday my head hurt!!! The girls also spent their time speaking Czech with their friends. We also went to an aquapark that had a whirlpool in it. Very cool. There was also a plague of miniature frogs around the lake...thousands of them no bigger than a pea...it was very Moses and pharoah. The weather was strange...sunny and warm in the mornings, and then in the afternoon strong winds and crazy strong rain, and then a neat rainbow in the evenings...nothing boring here!!! We had a relaxing time and our friends taught us a Czech card game called FILKY...the cards they use don't rsemble our cards at all...it took a while to get used to them...I am still not sure I understand them.

Vitkuv Hradec

We were invited for a weekend dovolenou...vacation...with the Rous and Mitas families. In the front you have Rebekah, Roxanne, Veronika, Jolana, Dasa, and Natalka. In the back are Jana, Kamila, Dan and Krista. Missing from the foto are Michal and Ludek. We are on top of Vitkuv Hradec, an ancient castle ruin. The view is of the Sumava mountains and the Vltavou river. The Sumava border Austria and are very close to the German border as well. The girls spent most of the time running up and down the stairs counting them as the man running the info booth told them there were 124 stairs and the girls were out to prove him wrong...and he was! 125 stairs!!

Bekah with two of her friends, Veronika and Kamila. While we were on holiday with these two families, Bekah stayed with the older girls in a room all on their own and had 3 nights of slumber parties. It was a big step and she seemed so grown up.

Prirody....nature
We have a lot of nature here...more than I have ever seen before, because we live right next to a lake and a forest. You can walk from our door across the road to the forest and pick blueberries and raspberries in the woods...pretty cool. We also saw this neat frog and this amazingly huge beetle thing.

Just a 5 minute walk from our home is the castle Hluboka...it is one of the gems of the country. on this day we took a tour completely in Czech...it was quite hard to understand and about an hour and a half long...by the end the girls were done in...

Empty nest...

Yesterday I looked into the nest to check on our babies and they were gone. We found one dead under the tree and the rest are in some cat somewhere. We are all very sad...Rebekah was so devastated...she made a little headstone and we buried the baby bird. Roxie decorated the grave wth flowers. It was a huge bummer for us. But we are thankful to have had the experience of seeing them hatch and watching them...it was a joy.

Our Baby Birds Hatch!!!

We now have five baby birds...sparrows...They hatched on Thursday and we are still in awe of them!! This is the first time the girls have seen baby birds right from the egg. All seem healthy and well. We will keep you posted....

Rousovi Rodina

These are our friends, Michal, Dasa, Veronika (next to Rebekah) and Natalka Rous(next to Roxie). On Sunday after church we went to "Mexicke Hacienda" their favorite Mexican restaurant, and had a great time eating and chatting. After, we went to the local cinema and caught a showing of "Piráti z Karibiku - Na konci světa"...It was awesome, and in English with Czech subtitles...very cool for us, although a pain for Dasa who had to read the subtitles to Natalka...one of my favorite parts was when Roxie had to go to the bathroom really badly and I misread a sign and went into a private bathroom for employees only...OOOPS!!!

Nature in Hluboka nad Vltavou

I truly have not seen so much unspoilt nature so close to residences before. We even have a beautiful nest and 5 gorgeous eggs awaiting hatching in our tree by our front door. Roxie discovered this treasure and we are so glad to have a "bird's eye view" of God's handiwork. The mama bird looks like a small, brown wren (but, I am no ornithologist)...we will keep you posted as to the outcome of our brood.

Clown (Klaun) act in Olesnik, Czech republic

Detsky Den (children's day)
June 1st is Detsky Den here in the Czech Republic. We went with some friends to a nearby village, Olesnik, to their Detsky Den svatek (celebration). The celebration was held at Rebekah's friend Veronika's school. There were many games that the children could play to earn candy and a spinning wheel like roulette where they could win prizes. Of course, we were the only English speaking people there, but we were with our friends, Michal and Dasa, and our girls hung out with their friends,Veronika and Natalka, and they helped them understand what was going on. After the games there was a clown (klaun) show. It was pretty funny and I bet it would have been funnier if we spoke Czech better. The clown act was pretty long and the majority of it was about King Hubert and Princess Krystina, who was sad about her lunch (I think). Danny almost passed out because it was so hot in the room where we were. Then there was a big bonfire for roasting sausages (klobasa). It was really fun and a good experience for all of us (and an awesome Czech language lesson)