Halloween 2007

The Czech Republic does not celebrate Halloween like we do in the States. But our friends wanted us to teach them how to carve pumpkins. These are the girls really close friends, Marketa and Verunka, and their parents are our neighbors and close friends, Martin and Lenka. The girls really enjoyed carving pumpkins and eating roasted pumpkin seeds afterwards. Having friends like these during a holiday that we enjoy helps us not to be homesick.

Aneta Langerova mala morska vila (small sea fairy)

For Danny's birthday we went to the Aneta Langerova concert here in Ceske Budejovice. She is a superstar here in CZ and our favorite czech singer/musician. What was really funny about the concert is we arrived at the place where it was to be held, the big sports arena, only to find the place closed. How could this be? We were on time, had the right dates....it was really weird. We found a poster of the Aneta concert taped to the wall of the arena...it had the name of the arena scratched out and the name "Gerbera" written beside it. We had no idea where the "Gerbera" was located, or even what it was. We made some phone calls to friends who also had no idea...and finally our babysitter knew, but her english is not so good so we had to get directions from her in Czech, but unfortunately she didn't know exactly where it was, only sort of the general direction. We walked through town for over an hour and finally we were about to give up when we saw it. We were an hour late for the concert but arrived just in time for Aneta to go on stage. So that was good. But we had already walked about two hours total and the concert hall had no chairs. What kind of country is this???? So we stood for 2 and a half hours, but it was an excellent concert, probably one of the best I have been to. The musicians were amazing...and she works with blind children in CZ and had one of them sing with her onstage...he was amazing...so it all worked out in the end, but another funny Czech experience for us...

Rebekah's Party

We threw a party for Rebekah to help her get acquainted better with her friends from school and the neighborhood. She had 9 girls over and they were all so sweet. They decorated goody bags and we played games. Danny dressed as Sully, the big blue monster, and distributed gifts to all of the girls. My father-in-law had sent a whole bunch of Tamagotchis from the States, so we were able to give those out as goodies. Then the girls played and jumped (in freezing weather). We met some of the parents and were invited over for visits to their houses too! It was a fun day!

Our First Snow...Nas Prvni Snih

We were so excited...It started to snow late in the evening and we woke the kids up to see. The next morning they woke us up to show us the snow outside. It isn't much, but it was so fun to see. There is definitely more to come!!!

Podzimni Vily...Autumn Fairies

Ve Tride...In The Classroom

Here I am with my 6th graders. They are preparing questions in English to ask my sister and her husband as they were visiting the class. I really like these kids although they are really rowdy and are hard to control. But they are funny and smart...if only they would bring in their homework. I am tired of hearing "I forgot."

"a small corner of the world where peoples' hearts and peoples' hands conjured up fairytales..."

Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

Muchomurka

...my favorite kind of mushroom is prolific in the forest surrounding our house. They grow really big with bright red caps and white spots. Like the kind you imagine in fairytales...I have a picture of a large one with spots on it, unfortunately I don't know how to get it from my cell phone camera to my blog...any suggestions?

Autumn in the Czech Republic...the forest behind our house is super pretty...

Tak Hodne Hub So Many Mushrooms

It is a national pastime in the Czech Republic to go mushroom hunting. Children are taught which mushrooms are edible and which are deadly. They make so many wonderful dishes out of mushrooms and they grow in abundance during the fall months in the forests surrounding our house. We have been invited on many mushroom hunting excursions only to be denied the privilege by our full to bursting schedule. This past saturday we were free so we decided to head out on our own, without mushroom expert, and see what would happen. Bekah made for us a guide of edible and dangerous eastern european varieties, and with basket in hand...off we went. The day was gorgeous, crisp, cold with leaves falling around us and the pleasant snapping sound of the mushrooms being wrenched from the ground. There werenumerous different kinds many which we could not identify. Some were fully bright blue, purple and pink...WOW! We arrived back at home with a full basket and hungry tummies, so we enlisted the help of our friend in the identification process. Lenka informed us that all but one lonely mushroom were wholly inedible, some even deadly. So, all of that work for naught but a morsel...ah, well, it is a good skill to be learned and maybe next season we will be expert houbary (mushroomers).

Kroupe Hail

The other day there was a terribly fierce hail storm...I truly have never seen so much. The girls collected cups of it and put it in the freezer and then proceeded to jump on the trampoline after the storm had died down. It was funny to see them jumping with all of that hail bouncing along with them.