Czech Diary, December 2004

Spent the day with a Czech friend, on ski slopes near Lipno. We didn’t ski — tobogganing was fun though. Benji enjoyed his first ride on a chairlift, winding slowly up the mountain, through the softly descending snowflakes.

This evening, Steve went to our church party for a wee while, and then joined me and one of our friends, as we sipped Bailey’s and listened to Deep Purple and Thunder... a really relaxing evening, and a good end to the frenetic year that 2004 has proved to be...

We miss our friends in Scotland, who we have joined for Hogmanay (New Year) parties, for the last 5 years. It was great to phone and talk with them, and hear the party going on in the background :0)

Happy New Year to you all (for our Czech readers - St’astny Novy Rok!)

It has become clear that one of my Mum’s cousins, and his son, were caught up in the tsunami, whilst on holiday, and remain unaccounted for. His wife and daughter have survived, and are preparing to return home to Sweden. Please pray for them...

This afternoon, one of our friends arrived with fresh rabbit (that his grandmother had killed), and it was all hands on deck to prepare a delicious Spanish dish — full of really chunky vegetables — rustic cuisine! One of our colleagues also joined us for dinner. We were a real “league of nations”, with representatives from Czech Republic, Scotland, New Zealand and South Korea!

The world has been stunned by the horrific tsunami which has obliterated much of the coastlines of Sri Lanka and Indonesia, as well as many others. It’s impossible to imagine the horror of one moment enjoying a family beach holiday, and the next being engulfed by a wall of water. Our hearts and our prayers really go out to those whose worlds have been turned upside down by this disaster...

Still no snow! The temperature is up around 10°C, and the sky is clear and blue. The Malše river still has a lot of ice on it, and Benjamin and I took turns breaking bits of ice and throwing them into the water.

We’re amazed at the generosity of all our friends and family. We’ll thank you all individually, but -- thanks so much everyone!

FINALLY got all my forms completed for the visa extension, and I’m told that it will be ready before the end of the month! Hooray!

Varya left this morning for Prague where she’s picking up her Mum from the airport. They’ll come down on the train tomorrow.

Christmas holidays! Varya, Benji and I have been off to Jindrichuv Hradec today, a delightfully historic South Bohemian town. In the museum there’s “the world’s biggest mechanical nativity scene”. We had told Benjamin that we were going to see the baby Jesus, but when we got to the nativity scene we found he was expecting to see a real live baby!

just 1 tiny part of a 5 metre long nativity scene!

Off to the “foreign police” again to deliver some paperwork for my visa extension. This time I talk to someone who can actually speak a little English! One of the forms I had to deliver was certification from our landlords that we do in fact have accommodation. Alas, they had not filled in my middle name, so the form did not completely match my name on my passport, therefore it’s back to the landlords again to get them to fill it in again and countersign. Grrrr. Kafka-esque.

If they don’t give me my visa extension before the end of the month, then of all things our car registration documents become invalid, so we won’t be able to use the car for a few weeks. Hope that does not happen.

This afternoon we had a church Christmas party, and we thought Benji might want to sing one of his songs... alas no, shyness set in in front of the microphone. But Varya and I sang an unrehearsed re-indition of one of our favourite Čechomor songs, Husičky (little geese). In Czech, of course :-)

České Budějovice has Christmas markets on at the moment, spread around the incomparable town square and several other historic streets. We wandered around this evening with Petr and Dana (our landlords) and soaked up the atmosphere (and a little mulled wine!).

Some snow finally arrived today! It doesn’t look like it will last, though.

Work party at home of an OM family who live in Strakonice. We had a ride with the OM leader and his wife, and Benji was in sparking form. He kept them entertained with stories and songs that he insisted on singing himself, and they reciprocated with some Czech Christmas carols. What a delightful evening! It’s about -5°C outside, but alas, no snow.

Applied for my visa extension today (vital for staying in the country). Nearly all paperwork is complete, just waiting for two small pieces of paperwork to come through and I’ll be clear for the next 12 months. Varya is so lucky that she’s an EU citizen — none of this paperwork and uncertainty for her!

At the “foreign police”, the people who deal with all the visa and immigration issues, none of them speak a word of English. What a joke! At least my Czech is now good enough that I can go there alone.

-4°C outside, but still no snow :-(

It’s really strange that it’s so cold, but because the air is so dry, there’s absolutely no frost on the grass, and no ice on the roads or pavements.

Had folks around for dinner tonight, including one friend (the Duck a l’orange one!) who we’re keen to spend more time with, looking at the Bible together, helping him in his faith. Since Friday night’s Bible study we’ve been even more sure that this is the right thing to be doing with him. It’s a sort of principle of “get alongside a few people who God lays on your heart, and make sure that by the time you leave the country, some people have made real progress in their Christian lives”. In Christian-speak it’s called “discipleship”.

We’re so glad we have Oskar (the new car). Today we found that the bus timetables have been dramatically reduced, especially on weekends, so getting to work or the supermarket on the buses (which we still do sometimes) means standing out in the sub-zero for longer. Brrrrrrrr.

We were invited to a Cechomor concert tonight. We have recently started to listen to their music — it is traditional Moravian (part of Czech Rep), with a twist, and a healthy helping of rock rhythms! It was FANTASTIC!!

It was great to be at a concert, surrounded by Czechs, singing along (OK — only a few words here and there, but it’s a start. . . ) and losing ourselves in the live music. Steve was really impressed by the drummer; he played so fast that his arms were blurred. I really enjoyed the playing of the fiddler — he apparently has a five-string fiddle, and the lead singer rightly called him “kral” (king) — his playing was AMAZING!

We met several folks that we know, and it is so nice to be part of a city that is small enough to bump into friends when we go out. . .

I really believe that listening to Cechomor is helping my Czech language learning — because of its folk roots, I’m learning words like “sweetheart”; “maiden”; “grave” and “murder”. Perhaps not quite words that I’ll use every day, but it’s giving me a fuller sense of the language (well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!!)

In bedtime prayers tonight, Benji and I prayed for “all the children in the world who don’t have enough to eat”.

• Benji (3 and a half): Sometimes I don’t have enough to eat!
• Daddy: That’s because even when mummy and daddy put food in front of you, you don’t eat it. But some children in the world don’t have any food on their plates to eat.
• Benji: Then their mummies and daddies should cook some food and put it on the plates.
• Daddy: But the mummies and daddies don’t have any food anywhere in the house -- so they can’t cook any. And they are all hungry.
• Benji: Then they should go to Kaufland [local supermarket] and buy some.
• Daddy: When we go to Kaufland, we have to pay money to get our groceries. Some mummies and daddies don’t have money - so they can’t get any food.
• Benji: Then they should go to the bank and get some money.
• Daddy: But some mummies and daddies don’t have any money in the bank...
• Benji: so what do they do?

Somehow I had not been expecting to be teaching Benjamin about poverty at this age, but somehow he seems grown-up enough to understand the implications.

The 5th of December is the day when, traditionally, St Nicholas (Svaty Mikulas) and some accompanying angels and devils visit children to find out if they’ve been good during the year. Our landlord’s daughters came with St Nicholas to see Benji — St Nicholas even practiced, so that he could speak to Benji in English. We had asked for the devils not to come, but they did, and Benji refused to look at them, because he was scared of them. However, he soon cheered up when given his gift — a wee train to use on the train set that he’ll get on Christmas day! :0)

[Steve: we were warned by lots of folks that the night often turns into a drunken revelry with rival groups of St Nick/Angels/Devils trying to kidnap other St Nick’s. We thought though that since we knew the ones coming to see us they’d probably be alright, ’specially if the devils didn’t come (oh well). And we thought we’d give the entire thing the benefit of the doubt and see it first hand. The costumes were absolutely fabulous, but as for next year... maybe not.]

Varya: We have a friend, Pavel, who loves to cook. Because he shares a flat, it’s easier for him to come round here and cook, than entertain us at his flat. He prepared Duck a l’orange tonight, and our colleague Doreen, was also here to enjoy the delights. After dinner, we listened to Norah Jones (chilled-out music. . . ) and played some games of chess. Aaaaaah :0)

The last teaching night of our English classes was on Monday night, so tonight was the prizegiving party in the OM cafe. It was a real hoot. We played some silly party games, including teaching some English tongue-twisters. Including a new twist on an old classic:

How much Czech wood could a Czech-chick woodchuck chuck, if a Czech-chick woodchuck could chuck Czech wood?

So, no more English teaching till February, and for me (Steve) maybe not even then. We’ll see how things turn out.