Hi Everyone, It is hard to believe but I returned a year ago on the 16th of November...
Here are some highlights of my first year of my second term...
November 2010-- The biggest highlight of the month was returning "home" on 16th of Nov. That first week-end I went with Czech friends Jana and Jirka to special LOGOS English retreat. It was a great way to reconnect with Czech friends. As I reconnected--it was bitter sweet because my roommate Olga was getting married in less than 3 weeks.
December 2010 -- One of the biggest highlights was seeing my roommate Olga get married to Petr on the 4th of the month. I had a wonderful Christmas time as I began to reconnect with Czech friends. On the 26th of Dec. I went cross-country skiing for the first time in my life. I had fun trying out the skis I had bought several years earlier. Later in the week I traveled by train to the north part of the country to visit Marie (Olga's cousin) and her family. I was there for a few days during Christmas break. There was lots of snow and Marie's children took me sled riding. It was a lot of fun riding on a Czech style sled.
Jan 2011 -- I continued to adjust to being back in Brno and also adjusting to living alone again. I started my work permit and visa renewal processes. At the end of the month, I began a two week intensive Czech language course at the university.
Feb. 2011 -- I successfully completed the 2 week intensive course and took a week break before starting a semester long full time Czech language program for Foreigners at the university. I was placed in the Pre-Intermediate level I and II classes after completing a placement grammar test. I hadn't taken a Czech grammar test in close to two years so I was pleased with the results. I received a two year work permit and went several times to check on long term residence permit.
March 2011 -- The Czech semester long coursework was keeping me very busy. This month a highlight was helping my former roommate and her husband prepare for a trip to Tampa, Florida. I was so excited that they would finally get a chance to travel to America. Olga had never been on a plane before. I tried to give them all kinds of pointers as they prepared for their trip :-)
April 2011 -- I was super busy with my studies but did manage to take a small break around Easter and helped my friends (Jana & Jirka) in their backyard. They torn down their old fence and was preparing to replace it. I spent Easter Day with them as well and Jana cooked a traditional Czech Easter meal--it was so delicious--duck, bread style dumplings, and sauerkraut. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! I was still working on my long term residence permit.
May 2011 -- The end was in sight for the completion of my semester long Czech program at the university. I remember doing lots of preparations for my final exams. It was a stressful time but I was so relieved when it was all over. My brain was totally fried by the end of the semester. I was trying so hard to memorize all the new Czech I was learning. Two other important highlights for this month... on my birthday Olga and Petr took me to Kridla where Olga's parents live. Olga's mother surprised me with a homemade traditional Czech birthday cake--it was delicious. Another huge milestone--I found a Czech teacher, Lenka to help me continue to improve my Czech speaking ability. I went to check on my status of the residence permit-- I had to wait four hours in line just to get to the waiting room to sit down and wait for someone to call my number. The process is going through a lot of changes.
June 2011 -- I continued to study Czech with my new teacher. I was preparing for a busy summer with such things as traveling for friendship evangelism with Czech friends, preparations for two English camps and special hiking trips with Czech friends. One highlight that stands out was seeing remnants of the Iron Curtain in the south part of the Czech Republic. I remember growing up hearing about the Iron Curtain but not fully realizing what it entailed. Put the following link in your url to see pictures of it: http://skydrive.live.com/?cid=e546d58992db031d#!/?cid=e546d58992db031d&sc=photos&id=E546D58992DB031D!151
July 2011 -- This was a super busy month... I was in Decin visiting with Marie and her two kids. We did a lot of hiking and I practiced speaking Czech with them. I was there for 5 days. The following week-end I had a friend from Tampa visit with me. A big highlight was having my Czech teacher teach me how to cook Czech food. I found out it is a great way to practice utilizing my Czech language ability plus I continued to learn more about the Czech culture. My Czech teacher has promised to teach me all the recipes that her grandmother had shown her :-) In the middle of the July, English camps started. I was part of the Czech preparation team for the first camp plus I helped take care of and teach English to the 3-5 year old class.
August 2011 -- As that first camp was ending, the Multi camp with the Inspiration group was beginning. I taught English to adults/beginner level at that 2nd camp. I enjoyed both camps and saw God working in many of the non-believers lives. I continue to build relationships with many of the campers. God is always at work. Please continue to pray that the seeds that have been sown would take root and grow strong. All for God's honor and glory. I was exhausted after the 2nd camp and immediately after the 2nd camp, I packed for a week vacation in the Tatra mountains with Czech friends Jana and Jirka. We had a great time and the Tatra mountains in Slovakia are just breath taking beautiful. Another highlight in August was my new roommate Iva Kristova moved in at the end of the month. Iva is learning English but we only speak Czech together. I was so excited for the chance to practice over and over speaking Czech with her.
September 2011 -- this was a very special month. At church we concentrated on principals from Andrew Murray's book 'Waiting on God", additional prayer times for community and personal reflections. I also attended a five day spiritual retreat in Budapest. Plus I ended the month at the annual prayer retreat week-end with my brothers and sisters of Brno Fellowship church. I continued my Czech lessons with my Czech teacher and also found Czech language partners to practice speaking Czech with.
I also continued to find opportunities to move into more ministry involvement from Czech language and culture learner.
October 2011 -- I started teaching in the LOGOS program by teaching adults once a week English at the high intermediate level. Every 5th lesson we have a spiritual discussion class. I am thoroughly enjoying my classes. Some of my other ministry opportunities involve helping the ADO Brno Gospel choir with the English pronunciations of contemporary Gospel songs, helping Czechs with translations of texts for websites, helping Czechs with conversing in English and friendship evangelism--I constantly am building relationships with Czechs and sharing my life with them which gives me opportunities to share about my Saviour Jesus Christ. FYI-- I finally can rejoice because I received my long term residence permit on the 12th of the month. I started working on this process in January.
November 2011 -- I continue to study Czech with my teacher and practice speaking Czech with my roommate along with my Czech language partners. One of the highlights of this month was an outreach English opportunity in Klobouky. Klobouky is a village outside of Brno. Several of my students live there and we had an English day there. I taught intermediate/high intermediate students. We talked about our life journey. So many exciting things are going on as I looked to God to continue to direct my steps to the work He has here for me.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I truly do appreciate it. Until next time take care. Many blessings. Colleen
