A Recent Adventure...

Hi Everyone, Hope all is well. Recently a good friend and her family took me to an area known as the South Moravia region in the Czech Republic. This is where my friend grew up and she wanted me to see and experience different aspects of Czech culture in the villages. I had a wonderful time and there were several festivals going on during the week-end of our trip. I have posted several pictures in this post and the previous one--so after reading this post be sure to scroll down to take a look :)

The first picture is of a bridge built in the 1920s and was in the hometown of my friend. We walked all around the village and went into a castle--there happens to be quite a few castles here in the Czech Republic. Anyway, in this village this castle is like the village's town center. We literally walked in on people rehearsing for a community play. A few people recognized my friend's mother and came over to speak with us. Later in the day in the village where my friend's parents live, we went to a festival called "Cutting of the Grass". People were dressed up in costumes performing in small groups for the audience. It was quite interesting to watch. My sister's friend told me that the groups were not dressed up in their full heritage costumes--that this festival wasn't one of the bigger ones. I was surprised to hear that because some of the groups had pretty elaborate outfits. At the festival my friend pointed out to me several areas of high grass marked off-- later there would be a contest to see which group would cut the patch of grass the fastest. We didn't have time to stay and watch that part :) Village life is quite different than city life that is for sure :) Hope you enjoy the pictures... remember to scroll down to see more. Take Care until next time!

Blessings,
Colleen

Pictures of A Recent Outing

Top Picture--A group performing at a village festival in South Moravia
2nd Picture--My friend's 10 month old son (Tony) enjoying the sights
3rd Picture--Type of transportation for village life

Rooting From afar...

Hi Everyone, Many of my close friends and family members know what a sports fan I am. I have always appreciated the lessons I learned playing sports and also watching them. Here in the Czech Republic I follow the sports headlines through the internet. American football has always been one of my favorite sports to watch. Baseball, basketball, tennis, golf, ice hockey, soccer, bowling--you name it--I probably have watched it at one time or another. Not only that I grew up fighting with my brothers on who would read the sports section first. It is the only part of the paper I enjoy reading and for me it is required reading :) My step-father always would tease me when I would drop by for a visit--one of the first things I would do is look for my parents' St Pete Times Sport Section to read. (I didn't get the paper delivered to my house so it was nice to get a glimpse of it when I was at theirs ;)

I mention all this to say how excited I am that a 22 year old guy from my hometown (Akron) has the local home team that I have rooted for all my life in the NBA finals. That is pretty amazing and for me the beauty of it all is seeing the lessons of leadership and teamwork displayed along the way. That is why I like sports so much--no individual or team truly can win a championship without a high level of leadership and teamwork. LeBron at 22 years old shows a lot of poise and giftedness in those two areas/besides his natural basketball talent. I know that many of the experts are picking the Spurs to win over the Cavs--rightfully so. San Antonio has a lot more talent, experience, and also displays great leadership/teamwork. But I love to root for the underdog and the Spurs still have to do it on the floor. The Cavs/LeBron won't make it easy for them.

Though I have admired many great sports figures for their leadership and teamwork abilities--there is one human being who is beyond all the others. No one can ever come close to what He did for mankind and continues to do... that person is Jesus Christ. No one has influenced the world more and for that matter no one has influenced or changed my life more than Jesus Christ. As I study the bible I constantly gain new insights to the great servant leader Christ was and it reminds me that He wants to continue his work in & through me along with others. The greatest game we are in is called, The Game of Life--how are you doing with yours? Is there some thing missing that cries out in the deepest part of your soul and no matter what you try to fill that desire with--it is still there. May I encourage you to read the scriptures--look at who, what and why Christ did what He did. Check to see if it should make a difference in your life or if it has continue to be challenged by Christ's call on your life. I know I am... these are just a few of my thoughts! Take care until next time.

Blessings,
Colleen

GO CAVS--you got nothing to lose--I'll be rooting from afar. And no matter what win, lose or draw I will always be a fan of Cleveland sports.

While You Were Sleeping...

Hi Everyone, This morning while most of you were sleeping I was on a bus to Vienna. I traveled there to the Czech Embassy because I needed to pick up my visa. In March I applied at the Czech Embassy in Vienna for my long-term visa. The visa process is somewhat cumbersome and a unique process. There are two major parts to it first you have to apply for a work permit and once you have that then you can apply for a long-term visa. My first visa is good for one year. Each year for at least the next 5 years I will have to reapply--first for my work permit then for the visa. But at least next year I will be able to reapply for everything in Brno and not have to travel outside of the country.

Today was quite an adventure for me. It was the first time I traveled by myself to another country. I am glad I had done my homework over the week-end and had figured out a game plan on what was the best way to get to the Embassy from where the bus was dropping me off at. I had only a small window of time to work with so I knew I needed to be efficient as possible so I decided to travel by the underground subway system. You see the Czech Embassy only handles visa issues from 8:30am to 10:30 am M-F that is why I was on a bus that left Brno at 6 am in the morning. I also didn't want to be gone for very long so I booked the 11:35am bus to come home on. I basically was going there to pick up my visa and then come home. Everything was going very well even though the bus was about 30 minutes late because of morning rush hour traffic. I had no problems finding the red and green line underground subways. I headed in the right directions both times and got off at all the right stops. I even managed to walk in the right direction to where the Czech Embassy is located.

All morning I was praying asking God to be with me and allow everything to work out well. I started to run into problems when I tried to reach the contact person at the Embassy that I had been working with. After waiting for over 30 minutes I finally found out that she wasn't in today. The lady at the counter told me to come back tomorrow. I must of had a look of horror on my face because I was scheduled to leave in just a few hours. I didn't want to have to pay for another trip back especially since all I needed to do was pick up my visa. The lady at the counter spoke only a tiny bit of English. Somehow I was able to communicate enough that she realized I was there only to pick up my visa. She took my passport and some other required paperwork. She told me it would take about 10mins. I thought that's good because it is 9:45am so I'll manage to find my way back with time to spare. However, it took longer than 10 minutes in fact I didn't leave the Embassy with my long-term visa until about 10:40am. I quickly made my way to the green and then red underground subways. When I came up from the last stop where I had started from earlier in the day, I got a little worried. Nothing looked familiar to me and here it was 11:15am. I had to somehow quickly find the bus stop area. I had no idea where it was. I walked in one direction and then another. Each time I turned around and walked back to where I had started. Finally I started asking strangers if he/she spoke English remember I am in a German-speaking country. (so my Czech language learning wasn't helpful in this situation :) Most of them didn't know English--I had to laugh one man showed me his watch--I giggled and thought "bless his heart" he surely doesn't understand English. Finally I found a young man who spoke a little English but he wasn't sure where the bus stop was. However, he did direct me to an information center that was just around the corner from where we were standing. My first thoughts were thank you God for directing me to somewhere I can at least ask especially since it is 11:25am and my bus is slated to leave in 10 minutes. I got the information I needed and I had to go back down the underground and up the other side. I quickly found the bus stop and within a few minutes the bus pulled up and I was relieved to climb aboard!

I thought well that is enough of an adventure for one day. I sure was glad to be on the bus. There was one last hurdle to overcome though as I traveled back to Brno and the Czech Republic. The Czech Embassy had given me additional paperwork to give to the Customs Border Officer when he checked my passport. When we got to the Czech border the Customs official came on the bus and I showed him the paperwork--he asked me to sign the bottom half and then took my passport. I wasn't concerned until a different officer asked the bus attendant/driver to get me off the bus. Here I am sitting with a bus full of people mostly Czechs and I get called off the bus. I wasn't sure what was wrong or how it looked to the others. All I had to do was sign the top portion of the form, too :) Whew, I was allowed to get back on the bus and head into the country I call home--it sure was nice to be home by 2pm--what a full day--I sure am tired but very glad my adventure is over and that I am home--never a dull moment--that is for sure!!

Take care until next time!
Blessings,
Colleen