Mission to the Czech Republic

Praise the Lord that we've had such great weather lately! Although I probably just jinxed myself by saying that, fall in Ostrava is absolutely beautiful! The Fishnet team went to Lucy's grandmother's house in the Beskydy mountains on Friday afternoon. We had a cookout with sausage, grilled chicken, potato salad, and Katka even made chocolate chip cookies! (that's a big deal; they don't have them here!). It was so nice to get outside of the city for a bit. We hiked around the nearby hills, ate apples off the trees, and took naps in the grass. I felt like I was in the Sound of Music! With slighly smaller mountains, of course. But it was exactly how I pictured a little European mountain town to be, with blackberries to pick, small cottages scattered on the hillsides, and lots of sheep running around. We spent Saturday and Sunday cheering on the Ostrava Arrows baseball team. They won both of their playoff games and continue the series in Prague this week. Here's a nice picture of David doing his signature "Glasgow Shuffle" on home plate. It was the first time he'd ever been to a baseball game in his life, so he enjoyed getting to run the bases when the game was over!
Laura and I taking a break whily in the Beskydy mountains on Friday. We ran out of time and didn't get to finish the entire hike, but I learned that the actual motivation for our hike was that there's a pub at the top. Leave it to the Czechs to use beer as a motivator to visit the great outdoors! Although now that I think about it, that's probably not just a Czech thing...
Smiling fans at the Arrows game: Jesse (Manchester, UK), Laura (my roommate), David (Glasgow, Scotland), and Kevin (somewhere in California).
Another fantastic view! Although the pictures don't really do it justice. Just imagine that view on all sides of you.
Laura made a poster to cheer on the team. Here we are at the field with Joe (North Carolina), the team's assistant coach, physical trainer, right fielder, and English speaker. One of these days, I'm going to figure how to put up pictures in the order I want them! I cannot figure this thing out!

This week has had ups and downs...sometimes they come hourly, depending on how my classes go. There's not much consistency so far which can be frustrating, but it is really teaching me to be flexible. I've really enjoyed my two youth classes so far. When I teach them I actually feel like a teacher!

Other fun facts of the week:
-The Chronicles of Narnia was filmed in the Czech Republic
-Students laugh hysterically when you use the word "worksheet" because "sheet" sounds like another English word they know....(stick with "paper")
-Theater performances, such as the Music Man, are fun to see in Czech, but it's important to actually know the plot first....

My verse of the week:
"Becaue of the Lord's great love for us we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness." -Lamentations 22-23