I must apologize for the lapsed time between my last post and this, especially upon announcing that I did get my long awaited americorp job in Colorado. I am very excited about my job there and the program, but am trying not to get too ahead of myself and am trying to stay focused here, on life in Prague.

but now for a very long, detailed, and excellent blog to make up for lost time.

um, where to start. Monday.

On monday night we met our Prague friend Micheal at Cream and Dream for a little late night snacky snack of the ice cream variety (though i hate to say we go too often, the staff is beginning to recognize us due to our frequent visits). After our ice cream fix we met up with June, a young man from Japan that lived in the U.S. but is now studying in Italy, that we met at the U.S.A vs. Italy world cup match that we were all watching at the large screens in Old Town Square (note: he was not rooting for the Italians, he says they are mean). We wondered the Streets of Praha on this beautiful night, crossing the Charles Bridge when it was not crowded and searching for the John Lenon wall, which was elusive and we could not find it. It was definately one of our best nights thus far in Prague.



Me with my treasured ice cream and my smart new hat, very newsies, eh?




Tuesday was a exciting and long day, as it was the day of our first cookout at Sir Toby's. We got there early and cut up the watermelon and all the rolls (because they do not have hotdog buns) and then at the appropriate time fired up the grill and threw on the dogs. The crowd slowly trickled in and I would say we had about 30 people there for dinner. There was also live music, which was great and lots of fun. I was manning the grill and brushed aside Lauren's well-meant critic of the dogs appearance, for the dogs were all splitting wide open from the heat. Becca and I both teased her for interfering in the affairs of meat, since she is a vegetarian. Well, it was only after we had fed the hostel guests 50 of our 60 hotdogs,that we realized that the hotdogs were individual wrapped in plastic!! And we had been cooking them with the plastic on!! And people were eating them!! Including me!! I don't know if that is a testament to the Czech's ability to create a good hotdog, because people gobbled them up despite the plastic wrapping, but GOOD GRIEF!! In classic intern style we just tried to poison all of our new cookout friends!! well, reports are in that no one died or was violently ill, but I have a renewed belief that I need to learn as much Czech as possible so we can discern those key phrases on food packages like "peel off plastic before cooking."

This weekend Lauren and I hopped off to Cesky Krumluv, a picteresque town about three hours south of Praha by bus. Becca stayed in Praha in order to have some time to herself and enjoy the empty flat. Lauren and I had a true cultural experience getting to Krumluv, because we know no czech and, um, had no idea what we were doing. We got to the bus station and when we inquired about tickets, the lady just pointed us to one of the bus pick up stops. and we waited for the bus, with out any idea if we could still get on the bus and anticipating much confusion when we tried to get on without a ticket. Traveling without knowledge of the language is really like playing a game where you don't know any of the rules. Well, we watched everyone in front of us, gave the driver money, and purchased ourselves a standing spot on the bus. Thankfully we didn't have to stand all three hours, after an hour and a half lots of people got off and we were able to sit down. But we were still wondering what was going on because we had no idea where to get off and the bus kept stopping and starting again, the bus driver would talk and we had no idea what was going on. but we made it. amazingly enough.

Cesky Krumluv is a great little town, the main attraction (in my eyes) is that the historic part of the city is surrounded by the Vlatava, so you can canoe or float on innertubes around the little island city. and it has a castle and lots of beautiful scenery. The houses are all so tiny and cute, like little hobbit homes. We stopped by the Krumluv house hostel first, because it was recommended to us but we ended up staying in the Ryba hostel, which is owned by an eccentric, non-english speaking crazy woman. It was great. We stayed in the attic with at least 16 other people--truly I was able to become Cinderella for 24 hours, attic room, castle, gorgeous old town-what more could a girl want! (I was tempted to sub in the hostel owner for the scary step-mother, but for all her oddities was was way too nice to do scary.) We finally got to our hostel (our progress was only slowed by our exclamations of delight and our stopping to take pictures every five seconds) and then went to a great vegetarian restaurant and were able to sit right along the river.




me in my bed




Then we walked a bit and went to bed. We woke up early the next day, shopped a bit, and then hopped on inner tubes and floated around the river. It was great fun, but now it is good to be back in Praha with Becca-the trio is reunited!!

places we floated:

I got the Americorp job in Colorado.





And I just went outside and danced in a Czech thunderstorm.





Hoorah!!

The Vlatava















old town square 'Go USA!' (this is supposed to be a video, is it playing?)















Saturday night was free museum night in the city of Prague and it was great! Phil, Shanna, Chris, Laura, Becca, Lauren, Michael, Sunny, and I whizzed through a photography exhibit, then stuffed ourselves (literally) onto buses out to old castle grounds to see a gothic cellar exhibit (the view of the Vlatava from the hill was great, i think this old castle was where a certain czech princess/prophetess stretched out her arms and declared "...and here will be created a city to be called 'Prague'" or something of that sort) then onto another crowded bus back to old town for cream and dream (the best ice cream ever, we go as often as possible, like tonight as well). Then we went to Old Town Square to watch the USA world cup match against Italy (at least the second half) because huge screens are set up in public places for everyone to watch. It was super fun, though we tied 1 to 1. boo.

This Tuesday we are doing a free cook out at Sir Tobys, we will be cooking up free hot dogs while there is some live music (some guitar dude). We are really excited, hoping for a good turn out (yay for free food!) and lots of good time meeting and hanging out with folks.

Oh, we also met some girls from Clemson that we hung out with last Friday, it was great to hear that good ol' southern accent while abroad. It was quite funny actually, because we three interns had eaten breakfast at Sir Toby's on Thursday and had seen these four girls there, commenting to ourselves how they looked nice and we tried a couple of times to strike up a convo but we always chickened out. Then that night, two of them walk into Bible study at the Davis'! All of our jaws dropped in astonishment. The girls actually know some young guys who are planning to come out and start a hostel in Prague, with intentions of using it as a ministry, and these guys had spent time with both the Davis' and the Syvertsons and so the girls searched out the Bible study. It was hilarious, well at least to the three of us, because we had discussed them amongst ourselves that morning, how we wished we had been brave enough to make friends with them. And then here they were. We told them all about our silliness and made plans to hang out with all of them the next day. We toured Prague castle (or at least walked around the grounds, we haven't quite figured out this castle yet) and then ate a delicious dinner at Bohemian Bagle. We had a really really good time. I wish I had a picture of them but I don't. and I vow from now on never to chicken out when my instinct tells me to go make friends...

Our friend the peacock, whom we now call Ferdinand. Regal yet sassy.
view of Prague from old castle stairs

Lauren and I

another picture from the park

The other day I was walking through a beautiful park that is my new favorite place in Prague. But I guess that is what is great about Prague, that we keep discovering new places that are beautiful and that we love. But this day was really hot and I has hiking through the hills of this park and there are all these little paths, trails made by other park lovers, that lead to wonderful vistas and you feel like an explorer in a vast forest. It was beautiful! I can't even describe the feelings of happiness and contenment I felt as I traveled through this park and through my thoughts.

It has been really great to explore the city by myself as well as with the girls. I think I am really a person that needs time to talk to myself to sort out my mind and my thoughts in order to maintain my sanity. I love the parks for this reason, there are parks tucked away everywhere, behind walls, in between houses, and they are all amazing. The park near the Davies house and ruins and (get this!) a vineyard and a wine bar where they serve the wine that is created by the vineyard. and it is beautiful.

We are moving to our new flat tomorrow and it is amazing because it has an extra room so Lauren won't have to live in the kitchen anymore!! we are so excited!! This Saturday we are going to go to the Pilsner Brewery and then the Free Museum Crawl that is going on in Prague, where all the museums are free!! woo hoo!!

Another exciting note, is that this Sunday the team is going to start their own church services, which is really exciting to see and is really exciting to be a part of, to see the beginning of a church, even if it is a small, somewhat internal beginning.

Oh! and I finally had my americorp interview. I have been calling Fanny (the lady who would be my boss) over and over and finally got a hold of her. I was really myself and this I expressed myself well (if anyone does not know, I am applying for an Americorp program in Colorado that would begin in August, working with homeless families) so now its just up to the Lord. We will see what happens. It is in between me and one other candidate. Please pray for me, my decisions, but it is really hard to (and kind of a bummer) to think about this while here, so I am hoping to not stress over it and to be here in the moment.

We have been hanging out at the pub and meeting people and listening to the God and praying a lot. It is good. I hope that gives you a glimpse of what is going on, I feel very comfortable here already, I am learning to love the pace and style of the city. There is much to learn here and much work to be done.

Today Laruen and I were walking in a park and we found a peacock. yes a real one. hanging out in the park. It was so unexpected and so cool. I will try and get pictures but it is so long to post them. We also saw some churchs, St. Nicholas' and Bethleham Chapel, the latter were John Huss preached. John Huss is a reformer pre Luther and I believe motivated/ inspired by John Wycliffe and was killed for his beliefs.





the end, love christa

Lauren in a park, taking a picture.














a little side street that my favorite cafe is on, Kafico. Its on the opposite side of the river than we live on, on the side of the castle. Speaking of the castle, I think we have decided to go see James Blunt perform there, in light of the lack of quality local music outside of the classical and jazz genre. i am not a big james blunt fan...but hey, its in a castle.

Oh my friends, I am sorry for the long delay in postings, but my computer is fickle and I am dispised (or I dispise) chezch keyboards, it seems that they will not allow me to sign in any of my passwords (or my one password I use for everything) to get to my e-mail and blog. so. here i am. but i have made a list of things to talk about. so i begin. 1. In Prague one must remove your shoes once entering someone's home. Generally people have their indoor shoes and their outdoor shoes, because everyone walks everywhere and the streets are really dirty (dust, dirt, lots of dogs and no pooper scoopers) so it is polite to take off your shoes before entering. Its fun. 2. In Prague it is appropriate to eat ice cream any time of the day. Children will be walking down the street at 8 am, with their mothers, eating a cone. I ordered waffles for breakfast and they had a scoop of ice cream on top. I knew I loved this country. Ice cream anytime. 3. Our grocery shopping/ cooking experience in Prague has been very interesting. Prague is the mecca of yogurt but that is one of the only things we know that we can buy without getting any strange surprises. no, we are doing pretty good, but I must say the first meal we cooked ourselves was eggs, broccoli, and bread with nutella. for dinner. (On that note, thankyou Shanna for the leftover lasagna which sustained us this evening). Again, yay ice cream! 4. The metro system here is pretty easy, I think we have it pretty much mastered. To get to the metro one must travel down an escelator (sp) that is much like a windtunnel, alarmingly fast and steep and windy. Apparently the metros require these crazy escelators (sp) because the metro stops also doubled as bomb shelters when built. huh. note: beware of skirts in the wind tunnel. 5.We went to the communist museum the other day and it was so interesting to learn more of the history of this area. I learned so much and my favorite part was the footage of the riots and velvet revolution that led to the overthrow of communism here in 1989. It is so amazing that these events were so recent and still such a part of the lives of people here. and it explains much of the society, like the complete lack of any worthwhile Czech pop/rock music, because it was all banned during the communist era! (some underground bands exsisted, most well known the Plastic People of the Universe, which, from the clip, were not of high musical caliber, besides the fast they were mutilating a cello. so not cool.) 6. Apparently everyone in Prague has sword. We have seen numerous people (well, three, but we are keeping a running count and other people have their own sword accounts as well) carrying sword under their jackets on the metro or strapped on their back on the tram. i am looking for my own, so I can truly adapt to this culture. enough said. 7.I really wish I had brought my cello. 8. One day we went to the Louvre Cafe, we had hot chocolate, which is melted chocolate bar in a cup and after out yummy treat we were taking a picture of the outside of the building. A gentleman came up to me, asked me if I was American. "Um, Yes" I said, thinking oh gosh is it that obvious (its not because today someone asked me for directions in Czech, mistaking me for a native, haha!) and then he asked if I could kick. "Um, kick?" "yes, kick," he replied. "um, yes" He continued, "I will give you 100 crowns (four dollars ish) if you kick my hand" "what?" "100 crowns if you kick my hand!" I said no confusedly, and he walked away sheepishly, but I have no idea what his motives could have possibly been. i have no idea. 9. Today the three of us girls went our seperate ways for some alone time and personal exploring time. I found my new favority cafe, Kafico (sp) where I read and had tea and honey cake. it was marvelous. 10. Last night the girls and I shared our life stories with Laura and Chris and it was great because I had not even heard the testimonies of Lauren and Becca. It was wonderful to hear how God had worked in their lives and how we were all coming from hard places, how God was changing us and using us in our imperfect, broken states. His grace is so big. 11. I am doing okay, though am a little restless today, having to adjust to the slow pace of the city. I am also beginning to miss talking to my family and friends. I was walking around by myself and just thinking about what I would say to each of you. But I definately feel I am supposed to be here and cannot wait to see what each day brings. the end for now.

Becca vacuming in the pub.


Yesterday, The third of June (Happy Birthday Katrina and Ellen!!) we slept in (until 12.30-1pm), went grocery shopping, and walked from our flat, through old town, across Charles Bridge (beautiful but such a tourist trap, we barely looked around for racing across the bridge as fast as possible because we all dislike slow walkers and crowds), explored the other side of the river (called the Vlatava), walked along the river, explored all the parks we found, ate dinner at Einstein's pizza (yes, like the inventor) and then headed to Sir Toby's Hostel and Pub. The Hostel is owned by a German guy named Mathias (who has a wife named Carrie) but the pub beneath is leased by the other missionaries here, Chris and Laura. It is beyond cool. Chris and Laura are just going to start managing another pub/hostel called the Check-in (get it, Czech, Check), so pray for them as they take on this huge new project. We will be helping in the pub in various ways, organizing events, cleaning, helping out, especially as Chris and Laura find their time crunched by their new commitments. I also tried my first glass of Prague (Bernard) beer (don't tell anyone, but I still don't like beer, Becca had to finish my glass, what a pansy I am! maybe I will like beer by the end of the trip...) We chatted it up with some patron/hostel folk, though it was a slow night, some folks from Ohio etc. It was really fun. Then we headed home for the night (we have pretty much mastered the tram/ metro system) and then two watched Gilmore girls episodes (season two) and ate nutella toast before going to bed.

Today we went to church at Antioch Church (a Church of God International Church, very small, cool people) and then had a team meeting with Chris, Laura, Phil, and Shanna. The week after next the team is going to start their own Church services, which is so exciting (next week we are going back to Antioch and they are going to pray for the team as they begin to start this new stage of their ministry)

I just want to say I love the girls I am with and it is so evident to me that God has all brought us here as messy, imperfect individuals to seek Him out, listen for direction, and share the Gospel with those we meet. Hooray. There are many great things ahead.

The First Prague Blog

Becca, Lauren and I before heading to the airport.
Hello Friends! I am now in the beautiful city of Prague, just having completed our first full day. So much has already happened...i don't know where to start. so I will just go and see what comes.

I arrived at the Philly sending center of WHM at about 2.10 pm on Tuesday the 30th of May. All the interns were there (the girls I will be in Prague with, the kids in Uganda, Ireland, and Romania). We discussed more of what WHM is about, some cultural issues we will encounter while abroad-just the discomfort of culture shock and such things-which was really great. There was time spent sharing among all the interns which was really helpful in establishing that we were all on the same page as far as fears and worries and hopes. My fellow Prague interns, Lauren and Becca flew to Frankfurt with the Romanian interns (KJ and Mary) on Wed. From there we took another shorter flight onto Prague while KJ and Mary went on to Budapest and then on to Romania.

Our flight to Frankfurt was about 8 hours long, plus a three hour layover there before heading on, so to say the least we were so tired! I got the most sleep on the plane, four hours- thankfully Phil Davis ( Our fearless leader in Prague, along with his wife Shanna) met us at the airport. We are staying at this cute little flat for two weeks and then we are moving to a larger one upstairs. The flat is great but today (you will not believe this) Lauren got locked in the bathroom for a n hour and fifteen minutes when the door got stuck and the latch broke. After many attempts to open the door the screwdrivers a brilliant Czech man was summoned who opened the door instantly. Lauren was a little claustrophobic, but we made it. It was bizarre to say the least.
We also met some other folks here, at the Thursday night bible study the Davis' have weekly.

Today we got metro passes, explored, ate pizza, Lauren got locked in the bathroom, rode the metro by ourselves, had dinner with the Davis' and discussed the summer. Since the Davis' long term goal of planting a church has not been acheived yet and we are the first interns here, so this summer will be a lot about building realtionships, experiencing the culture, listening to God, and getting to know the Davis'. I am really excited about being here (Understatement).

okay thats all I have for now, I hope it makes sense. I am trying to post some pictures.

This Becca's blog, please feel free to read it to fill in any holes from mine :)
www.outsideofkarma.blogspot.com