What To Do with the Boxes??

Hi Everyone: Hope things are going well. After putting our furniture together, my roommate and I inherited quite a collection of empty cardboard boxes. So how is this small problem dealt with here? Well you don't put them next to your trash can for pick up. No, instead you tear them up and walk them to the nearest paper dumpster/recycling bin. I visited that dumpster quite a bit--the corner of our living room is looking a lot nicer because of it :) It is interesting to see these recycling dumpsters throughout the Czech neighborhoods. There are recycling bins for glass/bottles-containers; for paper/cardboard and plastics.

Take care until next time.

Blessings,
Colleen

A Trip to See Snow...

Here are some pictures of when my friends Eliska, Jirka and their son Martin took me to the mountains. We drove about 3 hours from here up to the Jeseniky Mountains to a little ski village called Petříkov. The two pairs of skis belong to Jirka and Martin. Eliska and I enjoyed hiking and spending time together. (but we didn't ski maybe next year I will learn how to cross-country ski that is my goal.) We did this trip at the end of February. We have had a very, very mild winter here. I think North America got our snow besides their own. We had snow only for a few days at the end of each month January and February. Czechs have mentioned to me many times this year is not a typical "Czech winter"-- I know my body appreciates it wasn't a typical Czech winter!

Take Care until next time,
Colleen

More and More Like a Home...

Top--My Three Wardrobe Closets
2nd--The top view of my bed
3rd--Pop up view "under" the bed storage area
Bottom--Our kitchen table area

Putting It Together

Hi Everyone, It is time to get you caught up on what I've been doing. First I must send out a very special "thank you" to all the men in my life who has ever taken the time to let me watch them put something together or watch them repair something; and who showed me what tool was what and how to use them!! ("Papa", you are one person in particular who I owe a "huge" debt of gratitude for investing over the years the time in letting me watch you and learn from you!!) Now with that said here is what I've been up to... Alot of our furniture was delivered a week ago Saturday so this past Friday and Saturday I focused on putting it together. It doesn't sound too terrible except try looking at instructions in a different language. It can be quite challenging even for Czechs because the language wasn't always in Czech either :) What was good was with the foreign language came diagrams. Trust me I now view diagrams as part of the universal language. The diagrams were extremely helpful and surprisingly accurate. I honestly didn't pull my hair out though I do have very sore hands from my labor but it was worth it. Luckily before I tried to put my first piece together I realized I must buy a few additional tools because we didn't have the type we would need. I had no problem finding a good hardware store and I made sure I had the czech words for the type of tools I would be looking for. Having the czech words helped me locate what I needed in the store. On Friday I experimented and put one wardrobe closet together by myself. It took me a while but it gave me confidence and a good knowledge of how to do the other two. So on Saturday a few Czech friends came over and helped me and Olga with our bedroom furniture. I guess I impressed the young lady who was helping me. She told others Czechs that I was knowledgeable and the literal translation she was telling people was "Colleen is clever with her hands". I am not sure how clever or good I am with my hands but I do know that out of necessity I was willing to do it. Because I knew I would enjoy my furniture alot more out of the boxes put together than in the boxes!!! I will post some pictures of what it looks like :)
Take Care until next time,
Colleen