Mission to the Czech Republic

If I could paint a picture of what my first week in Ostrava has been like, it would look something like this:

Cloudy, overcast sky misted with light rain. Leaves on the trees starting to turn brown and people exclaiming that this early autumn is "not normal" as they hop over another puddle. Everyone around me eats with the fork in their left hand and the knife in their right and I stare blankly at the waiter as he approaches me for my order approximately 6 seconds after I sit down. But the Fishnet teachers are smiling and welcoming, and despite the fact that I don’t understand a darn thing anyone is saying, I feel that this is a safe place to be.

Cultural adjustment here has been quite interesting and even funny to me at times. I’m pretty sure I’ve done something stupid every day since I’ve been here. There was my attempt to buy a watermelon at Alberts grocery store (who knew you had to weigh them in the back first?), then I locked myself out of my flat. Most of the time it involves a long "conversation" with one of my neighbors, entirely in Czech, were the most I can ever communicate is a nod or shake of my head. One of them scolded me for cleaning the front windows with glass cleaner. "Voda!" Water only. They why do you have glass cleaner? Then she goes on about how she speaks Russian. At least I’ve managed "nerozumim" – "I don’t understand." Although that never seems to make a difference with them.

The most amusing aspect of the language for me comes in the simple difference between yes and no. When answering a cell phone, many of them will answer with "yo," Wondering if it was a lame attempt to use some American slang, I finally figured out that "yo" means "yes," and, as it turns out, so does "no." "Do you speak Czech?" "No." "Are you from Ostrava?" "No." Those were my incorrect answers to those questions. "Ano," generally abbreviated as "no," is the equivalent of "yes." "Ne" means no. And so begins my quest to learn and understand Czech.

Since classes don’t start until mid-September, I’ve had plenty of free time to explore and get lost. I’ve already seen Pirates of the Caribbean here (in English, thankfully), been to church (where we sit on the second row with big red headphones on so someone can translate for us), learned to make homemade tortillas (I can even flip them in the pan), and hung out with various other Fishnet teachers. Although I’m really ready for classes to start because I like being busy, I’m glad to have the chance to adjust.

I thank you for your prayers and concerns. Once my computer gets fixed I should have better internet access to make regular updates. So until my next one, na shledanou!

Along the California coastline
Mom and me, doing a little exploring Paul came to visit!

The mountain view from campus

Oh how that day draws near! In just two days I'll be Ostrava bound. We're all full of a variety of emotions, excited about what God has in store for us and anxious about the unknown. The last week of training was full of events such as a Native American Pow-Wow on campus, a musical performance by a native Quechua woman from Peru, a talent show, and commencement (see Stacy and me with our certificates in the picture). I am now certified to teach! With training now behind us, we've had some free days to enjoy the city and get last minute packing and shopping done. I was so blessed that my mom was able to come out for the weekend! We had an amazing time swing dancing in downtown Pasadena, exploring the California coastline, and visiting Santa Anita Racetrack.

Of course my life would not be complete if it did not include a significant amount of stress, this time in the form of...packing...again. With baggage restrictions changing daily, none of us seem to have any idea what's going on. My friend Jen and I have had a great (and I use the term "great" loosly) time this afternoon sitting on our suitcases, trying to use those vacuum bags, and just arguing in general over who is the bigger moron for bringing so much stuff. It's difficult to picture what you really don't need when you already have it with you. And we don't want to just throw things away right? Right? Haha.

On a more serious note, we do have some prayer requests we'd like to be lifted up if you feel led.
1. Pray for the logistics of traveling...the baggage, the flight, the paperwork, potential strikes for Tuesday, just that the whole process is as smooth as possible and we all actually get on the flight with no incident
2. For our attitudes, as we know the enemy can use our stress and frustration against us and against eachother
3. For smooth transition into our host cities and schools, for the administration to be accepting and willing to help us non Czech speakers!

Thank you so much for your prayers. This will most likely be my last update until sometime next week. So until then, na shledanou!

This past weekend was so refreshing! We finally had some cooler weather and some time to explore. Some of us on the Central Europe team decided to go hiking. First picture, L-R: Stacy (Prague), Che (Sokolov), Elanor (Prague), Me, Becky (Slovakia), Reba (Sokolov). Second picture, L-R: Stephen (alumni, Pribram), Elanor, Andrew (Kralupy), Ben (alumni, Pribram), Stacy

Ben and Stephen got us started learning Czech during the hike, which was helpful since we began our language and culture classes this week. I can now count to ten and recite various useful phrases such as:
My name is: jmenuji se
How are you?: Jak se mate?
Nice to meet you: Tesi me
Those are, of course, missing the accent marks since I can't type them. Some of the words look absolutely insane, such as the word for "four," which is ctyri (picture accents on the c and r). And it's pronounced something like "chteerzhy." I would pick the language with the second most difficult sound in the world to learn.