Mission to the Czech Republic

**I actually wrote this a while ago, and the part about fullness in Christ has been on my mind again lately. And since at the moment I'm too lazy to rewrite another entry, I figured copy/paste would suffice for now. Oh, and I added more pictures from the bike trip. Enjoy.

A good friend of mine once told me how she loved outdoor jackets. Every time she saw someone with a new ski jacket or wind breaker, her own North Face suddenly seemed outdated. It was, as she explained, “fleece envy.”

I have since adopted the term myself to describe my unjustified craving for various outdoor wear that I may or may not ever use for its intended purpose. As I browse through racks of Mountain Hardware, Patagonia, Arcteryx, and Marmot, I picture myself dangling from a rope, clinging to the side of a mountain somewhere. Or plowing across an open field on a mountain bike. In all honesty, this cool looking outdoor apparel will most likely be used to brave the dangerous 5 mph winds as I hike to the nearest tram stop.

But there is something exciting about a new jacket. I love how the fleece is smooth and soft, not picked with little balls of fuzz. And for probably about two weeks, I’m thrilled at every opportunity to wear it. But then, the novelty begins to wear off. It becomes just another item in my wardrobe, and a few months down the road, I see the new fleeces from the spring collection and decide that the orange one is just what I need to bring a little excitement to my life.

This morning I was listening to a sermon from a pastor named Matt Chandler in Texas whose podcasts are becoming part of my daily routine. He was preaching out of the wildly popular book of Ecclesiastes, about how, according to Solomon, everything in life apart from God is meaningless. Although we hate to admit it, our lives are often nothing but monotonous routine. Every Monday I get up, eat breakfast, teach, eat lunch, plan, teach, plan, eat dinner, shower, and sleep. And guess what I do on Tuesday? No trick question there. Apparently I try to bring change and excitement to my life by adding more stuff, and I have an emotional attachment to my C&A hat. It seemed a little extreme to me at first. Come on, I mean, I needed that hat! My head would freeze otherwise! But when I stood back and looked, I saw that he had a point: I don’t buy things because I need them, I buy them because I want to change things up a bit, you know? Make my day a little more exciting.

I did it again today. I finally went into the store with mannequin that just returned from climbing Everest, and found myself debating how much I needed the lavender fleece hanging on the sales rack. And then I heard Matt’s voice in my head from one of his sermons, (sounding strangely like Ron Burgundy): “I need new jeans. I can’t wear these old ones because they’ve absolutely disintegrated.” Really, what’s wrong with the other three jackets I brought with me? Is my life really so absent of fullness and purpose that I need an article of clothing to give me a reason to get up in the morning? (Or at least go outside?) I certainly hope not, and I do tell this story lightheartedly, but I’m beginning to see the futility in striving for change and excitement in the wrong places. I’m not sure I was even consciously aware of it before. But I know that Christ alone can bring about change, bring about hope, and bring about love and grace and all those other gifts that make life exciting and FULL! Solomon had it all: wealth, power, land, wisdom, parties, and in the end, it was all…meaningless. So this week I pray that my time here would not be. That my pursuit of Christ would overpower my pursuit of pleasure apart from him…and my pursuit of imitation sheep fabric.

“I have come that you may have life, and have it abundantly.”
-John 10:10

Around 4:00 this morning, Laura and I were awakened by a very loud noise. It continued on and off for the next two hours, and sounded a lot like a dog running around upstairs. I couldn't figure out why a dog would be running around at 4am, especially since we'd never heard a dog up there before.

Around 5:00 I concluded that there was no way on earth a dog could ever make that much noise, and that it had to be a goat. Or a cow. Something with hooves, at least. The only other idea was that the shingles were sliding off the roof, which would still be strange, and the roof is four floors above us so would it really be that loud?

Around 6:00, when I got out of bed, we found that something had actually been falling off the roof: snow!!! We wait through five months of "winter" and mother nature chooses the day before spring to turn this city into a white wonderland? I will never understand the central european weather system. It was a BIG surprise, but hey, at least now I feel like I'm living a genuine Czech experience, right? Hope you are all enjoying your 65+ degree days. I'll be having snowball fights trying not to wipe out on the sidewalk!

With Premek and Honza on the train. We went to the indoor water park in Frydek-Mystek for the afternoon. The birthday kids playing Twister. We had a party for all of the March birthdays.
I went to my first Czech Ball at the University. I didn't know how to do any of the traditional dances, but I had fun making up my own!
Guys, if you go to the water park, make sure you have the proper swimming attire. No long shorts allowed!
Jirka and Hanka on our bike ride on Sunday afternoon.
March is flying right on by as we speak! I haven't had much desire to travel lately after two big trips less than a month apart back in Jan/Feb., so I've been able to use this time to invest more in local activities. I've realized recently how much I really enjoy doing things with the youth, and I wish my schedule allowed for more of that. Yesterday I went on a bike ride with a girl from my youth class, Hanka, and one of the Younglife interns, Jirka. Hanka took us out through some beautiful countryside and along the train tracks (those trains are hauling when you're up close), and to a nearby town for dinner. We just barely made it back before dark.!

Saturday I went with the kids to an indoor water park in nearby Frydek-Mystek. It wasn't anything like White Water, but they did have a few slides and a hot tub. That night we celebrated the March birthdays with a big party at the church cafes. I was having a serious moral dilema about whether or not I should go, because my rockin' boss Adam had free tickets to the Andel Awards, which are basically the Czech Grammys, which were in Ostrava this year. I turned them down in the end and I'm glad I did because while that would have been awesome, we had a blast at the party, dancing to Jock Jams and old 80s songs.

Interesting/Disturbing Story of the Week: While taking a walk in the park yesterday, I was coming up on an intersection of two paths. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that there was a man walking towards the path, and we would intersect pretty close to each other. There were some bushes in the way, and when I got about 10 feet from the crossing I realized that he didn't have a shirt on (it was really cold out...). About that moment, he noticed me and immediatly ducked down into the bushes. I kept walking, staring straight ahead, and then after a bit I turned around to make sure I wasn't being followed, and there he was, standing in the middle of the path, completely naked!! Well I power-walked as fast as I could towards Tesco since I didn't see another soul around. Thank goodness he didn't follow me, but I'm still pretty creeped out by it!

This week I would like to thank: the makers of Bisquick, for their magical blend of baking ingredients that made me look like a master chef for my phenomenal biscuits at the Friday meeting.
I would also like to thank: my mom for mailing me the Bisquick.

one more random side note: some of the Czechs at that meeting had never had biscuits! Even Jesse, the British guy, didn't know what they were, since they use the word biscuit to mean cookie. I was happy to introduce them to a southern favorite, and even more excited when they liked the grits I made them!

Throughout the course of this year, many of you have asked me what my observations are as far as Czech-American culture differences. So after months of anticipation, I have compiled my thoughts for the four of you who faithfully read this. Again, these are just my personal observation and I am not trying to generalize or stereotype in any way. This list is made up of my thoughts along the way:

-Czechs always say hello and goodbye upon entering and leaving a room. Even if it’s to nobody in particular, or if you don’t know the people there. You say it to the cashier at Tesco, or to the doorman at the business you work in. Everyone.
-Czechs carry flowers upside down. Even numbers of flowers mean you like the person. Two flowers mean someone has died.
-You always take your shoes off upon entering someone’s home. Often, your host will have slippers for you to wear if your feet get cold.
-At restaurants, you don’t wait for tables. You just seat yourself. Often, especially at lunch hour, you share tables with others if there isn’t space anywhere else.
-Czechs don’t do the big American “cheese” smile in photographs. A friend told me she doesn’t even think she could if she tried.
-Many doors out of buildings open in. This causes problems when they have opened out your entire life and you walk straight into it expecting it to open out!
-In a store, you always take a basket or shopping cart. Even if you only need one thing, or you know you might not buy anything. You just take a basket anyway.
-Czechs reuse grocery bags. They bring their own to the supermarket.
-Pizza is always thin-crust. Ham is probably the most popular pizza topping in CZ. It’s also normal to put corn and broccoli on pizza. If there are olives, they are usually green. I really miss good, deep dish pizza.
-Czechs are very humble people. They will tell you they can’t speak English when they are practically fluent. One student I met mentioned one time that he was a fencer, then I found out later he’s a six time national champion.
-Czechs, notably young people, are great about giving up seats for the elderly on public transportation. I’m always impressed.
-During Communism, many American songs were covered in Czech and then marketed as Czech songs. To this day, many of them will hear an American song and think we stole it from them.
-Cheating is incredibly common in Czech schools. The students (and even the adults in my class), consider it "helping" eachother and it is pretty much expected that they do cheat. They don't seem to have any regret or guilt about it. This is one difference that I still don't understand.

And one humorous observation: you can predict the age of a woman by the shade of red her hair is. Young girls usually go for the hot pinks, which gradually fade to a darker and darker red. Around the mid-forties, the red is almost a natural red color. Then it gets a little purplish tinted. The purple gradually lightens until they're in their 80's or so and it's a nice lavender color.