Prague - Tuesday

Our goal in going away was just that, to get away. We thought that whatever we did in this foriegn city would be great, so with that in mind we decided to actually go into buildings and museums not just view them from the street like we do in Oxford. But before we could jump on tram 3 at Balebenka we enjoyed a hearty breakfast. Our hotel had the following offerings: Eggs, sausage, another kind of sausage, cheese, ham, salami, yoghurt, granolas, many breads, juice and some very strong coffee. All of that added up to a great start to the day, in fact we eliminated the need for lunch, of course we didn't leave the hotel till 10:30 anyway. So we rode the tram about 20 minutes into the city center and got off right in the heart of the action, near Wenceslass Square (more on that on Thursday) Since we were not in charge of anyone and had but one small deadline of a 1:45 tour to meet we simply wandered around, up and down streets, into a McDonalds to use the toilet (it cost 5 kc or about 15 cents, but you get it back if you bring a little reciept back to McDonalds in a week) and while in McD's I noticed that they sell beer with their value meals and I picked up a free map of Prague which proved to be quite helpful. After strolling through shops and backstreets we came upon the Old Town Square which is beautiful, old, and quite crowded by locals and tourists. We met Tom our guide who then showed us and 4 others some other famous buildings, talked about the difference between baroque, renaissance, and other period architechture. Prague has many periods of architechture because it has been around for so long. He led us down to the Vlatava river where we boarded a little boat which took us out for a ride and a look at the city from a river's view. This was great as you could see both sides of the river, and all of the different buildings, and sites of each side. By the time that we finished the boat ride we were starting to get tired, it doesn't sound like much walking took place but don't be fooled, you don't go to a large city and not walk your feet off. All of this walking made us hungry so we set out to find a traditional Czech restaurant. We ended up at one I think, it was very tasty, not goulash and dumplings but traditional none the less. We split a meal of huge potato pancake stuffed with meat and vegatables. The best way to describe it is to say a mix between a fajita, stir fry and stew all mixed up in a pancake, it was quite tasty. To the say the least we were full, and after riding back to our hotel we crashed by 10:00, I even took a nap at 8:00 and then could only make it till 10:00. Part of going away is relaxing and part of it is seeing the sites, we did both in a way, looking forward to Wednesday when we would go to a different part of the city.

Prague Blog - in words - arrival

We have been transported back from another land, in this case one of a feel of being in a fairy tale, rich culture, baroque architecture and a midweek excursion to the Czech Republic. Prague is a very historically deep city, a castle dating back to the 900's, cathedrals from 1400's, a synagogue that has been active since the 1300's and all of the governmental history from the 20th century. Picture it, we get off the subway at 10:00 P.M. walk up the stairs of Palmovka station and find ourselves in a city where we don't know the language, don't understand the culture, and don't know where Spojavaci street is at, or how to get to it. Sure there was plenty of graffiti on the walls, a number of seedy establishments, and an eeriness of not much traffic, but in the end we knew that we would find the Hotel Step, it was somewhere in Praha 9. After a jaunt down Sokolovska street we saw a sign for the hotel and pointed to it, then a couple across the street said "Looking for Hotel Step?" we said yep (rhyme not intentional) and we followed them under a bridge, down the street and up 69 steps to the Hotel Step, it is appropriately named. I attempted to chat with the couple but they did not understand even "how are you?" so we did not get too far. Anyway we checked in, found #228, realized there was only two english speaking stations on TV, and decided to call it an evening, looking forward to the next three days of sightseeing and being on holiday.

Prague Blog - Pic version

This blog for all of you who are visual learners, do enjoy, much more writing for the rest of you later. If you can do go to Prague it is worth the effort

Tourists, most of which from the Czech Republic, we heard hardly any English being spoke at all. If it was your capital you'd visit as well.
Looking out from near the castle across the roofs, St. Nicklaus Church and the Old Town in the background on the other side of the Vlatava River.
Public transport is huge in Prague, it is estimated that 2/3 of residents
use the transport system, it is very easy to use and cheap

Whilst walking next to the river we saw swans, ducks and these nice older folks who were feeding them, the town in the background is quite nice

Architecture is a huge deal in Prague, it is old, varied and amazing, just a little sample for you

Houses that are next to a canal that runs through the Lesser town area near the river

Not brighteyed and bushytailed?

That is quite accurate, last night KBC had an all night of prayer. Now before you assume that 40 of us sat in a circle and prayed out requests for 12 hours that was certainly not the case. Each chuch placement group was in charge of an hour, and there was such variety to the evening. We started with an intro and then reflected back upon our time so far at KBC. After some singing, we moved into a time of taking communion together, this too was very special. Following that we went into another part of the Kings Centre and prayed for all the various nations represented this year at Kings (England, US, Norway, Canada, Northern Ireland, Iran, Australia, France, Belgium) and then stood in a very cold hall and lit candles to place on a map made out of blue tape on the floor. At that point we reached a break around midnight and had a little snack, this was a precursor to the feast at 1:30. Our group prayed for KBC, its future, present, and vision, this was a time of much prophetic input, and we also prayed for the staff as well. We feasted and then people started to drop off a bit more, but not before reading through the whole of the book of Hebrews. We had actions to some of it, some read in unison, some read in a loud voice, soft voice, pairs, etc... it reminded me of my reading class, always trying to do something new and fresh. Next was back into the cold hall to pray and walk, I think this was to keep some people awake, it worked for me, I thought that I was able to focus quite well during that time. Our ministry trip to Morocco is coming up so we learned some about the land, people and customs, ate some food, drank tea and smelled spices, it was a great way to start building up to the trip. I took my one hour slot of sleeping next, it was not comfortable but it worked, and I felt refreshed following. We closed with some upbeat music and prayer, this was well done by some students who were quite sleepy. The morning came and we ate breakfast together, and then people went home to crash, a wonderful night and morning, but it's true I'm not feeling to brighteyed or bushytailed at the moment. later
earl

Let it snow?

Who would have thought that we would wake up on a Thursday morning in February to as much as 5 inches of snow, no joking it was and is that deep. The walk to school this morning was absolutely amazing, there will be pics soon on this blog. In fact later in the day after being at KBC a group of us walked for what seemed like forever in the snow to one of the houses and made a snowman/statue of one of the guys on our course. It is a very long story but there are a group of us who wanted to create a statue of Mike, so the snow was a perfect medium for that. Then to top it off today, I was home working on papers, reading and cleaning, then lo and behold there were flurries in the air most of the time, it is quite remarkable, just a little reminder of Indiana, although not nearly as cold. My head is swimming somewhat from reading alot lately, mostly about the Kingdom of God and for a paper that I am doing about gender. Maybe on a later blog I will share some of my views, at this point I am all gendered out as it has been a long day working on that topic. This weekend we do not have too much on, so I plan on watching some more rugby ( I did watch the Super Bowl, thanks Charles Hippsley for the DVD) and attempt to keep up with basketball back at home. I'm going to sign off for now, will have pics up soon Rebecca has the camera so I can't upload the shots from yesterday. later

earl

Shots on the way to school, it is very pretty Rebecca and Jazz in the snow

Rugby?

I know that is a wierd title, but today was a bit wierd from a sports perspective. Tomorrow in America is the Super Bowl, and the two teams closest to where I live are playing in it. With that being said today we had about 10 people at our house at 4:00 to watch England vs. Scotland in the opening round of the 6 Nations Cup (I know that you all know what I am talking about) Anyway I knew that I was not in Indiana as one person stated "What is the Super Bowl?" Next week I'm sure that we'll watch the second weekend of the 6 Nations Cup. I want to give you an update on where our life is at here in Oxford. This past Monday we were able to meet with our neighbors who we have dealt with about the wall. They accepted our offer to pay for the wall, we did not expect that so quickly, so last Monday we paid them, and now that part of the process is over. Thank you to all who prayed for us, I can say that we felt those prayers. This term is a busy one, we have to write 2 papers for seminars, both Rebecca and I are writing about gender and Paul and the law. Last week I attended a seminar on creation, it was very interesting, most of the discussion centered around caring for God's creation. In addition to those papers, we also have a paper on a minor prophet, I'm doing a paper on being a Christian in education, and then our major paper is due at the end of the term. In addition to all of this we also are traveling this term, we leave for Prague in a couple of weeks, we also attend the Salt and Light England conference in Teeside (north of England). There also a number of people coming to visit us, so ya that will be great. Our church placement is starting to kick in a bit more, we are in charge tomorrow, the 25th, doing a kids service in March and I am working with the music there some as well. I know that it might sound busy, and while it is, we are absolutely loving it, I mean when was the last time you a full house at 4:00 watching rugby at your house? I'll sign off for now,
earl