Live and Learn

On Friday, March 24th B.J. and I were invited to the Arts and Drama school in the castle here in Letohrad by one of the drama teachers who attended our Discussion Club kickoff meeting earlier in the week.  It was the graduation of two of their students and there was a production of a Moravian morality play from 1894. The plot depicts pressure put on a young woman for an arranged marriage and the aftermath of an unhappy union and its tragic end.  We had a complete synopsis of the play and had a wonderful time although we understood, by count, five words. (Later we found out it was in the Moravian dialect so we felt better about the five words..... uhhh, you can take that or leave it.)
It turns out that Adela, the drama teacher in the middle of the picture with the flowers, is also a language teacher so we have set up an hour and half each week for lessons. I guess timing is everything.

On Saturday, March 25th, as we were walking up the street from our apartment we saw a beautiful black and white cat lounging on the stairs.  We called the usual “kitty, kitty, kitty”; got an ear flick and cold stare so we went on our way.  Later in the day we came upon the Pomikalkovi family; Ales, Veronika, Ondrej, Daniella and Sam. They were on their Saturday morning family outing.  We chatted and asked Daniela (8) how you call a cat in Czech.  She said it was “Che, Che, Che” (yea, I know, you gotta hear it).  We thought that was nice but wondered how you get ‘kitty’ from that. We thought nothing else of it until we were on our way back to the apartment and passed by the house with the black and white cat still in the same position on the back stairs.  Well, I tried the Czech version.... and the cat bounded up and rocketed to us for a scratch and rub. Just goes to show you a little language goes a long way.

Monday, March 27th and we have been cordially invited to the Pardubice police station, actually the immigration enforcement section of police. It seems we had not followed all the in-country visa requirements of reporting in with the police within a specified period of time.  There was a bit of

confusion earlier when our very efficient 'handler', Renata, had talked with the police on the phone, there was a misconnect in that the information they gave her was for someone from another EU country. Soooo, when she went down on her own last week to clean up some paperwork they sorta, kinda requested our presence!  It all worked out swimmingly though, we had some very nice police representatives who shepherded us through the process and waived any cash penalties.  And we had a wonderful afternoon in Pardubice!

A Full Week with Both Us Here

Today is Friday and I have been here a week.... and since B.J. came earlier, this is the end of the first week we both have been in Letohrad.  It has been a week of acclimation... and coughing.  Both of us developed some kind of cold thing although we both had different symptoms.  NO... I did not bring it from the States... I still maintain we only shared in an existing strain here... And I'm sticking to my story.  Nothing serious just very annoying; mostly to other people.

We met our flat mates this week, a very nice young woman and her 6 year old son. They do not speak English so we engage in a lot of sign language.  We did, however, first meet her when Dan and Renata were here so we able to have a complete conversation and feel comfortable with each other; especially important since we share a common hallway to each flat and we cannot help running into each other.  The other person sharing our building is a local Accountant whose one room office is just off the entrance way.  She also does not speak English and ditto.... lots of hand waving.

We visited two of the basic (elementary level) schools here in town, one is on U Dvora street and the other is on Komenskeho street.  The plan is for us to engage four classes in the Komenskeho school and three classes in the U Dvora school.  As you can see from the photos below the groups are elementary school age and have a good command of English.  We will meet the Komenskeho classes on Mondays and the U Dvora classes on Fridays through the remainder of the school year which will go through the end of June.

Komenskeho Class 1B

Komenskeho Class 1A

Komenskeho Class 2

Komenskeho Class 3

You will notice there are actually four groups instead of three. That is because groups 1A and 1B will alternate from week to week.  

 We goofed and did not get a photo of the first class at the U Dvora school so we only have the last two groups here.

U Dvora Class 2

U Dvora Class 3

We are really enthused with this opportunity although it is a very exhausting experience.  I have maximum respect for any teacher!

And just to round out the week we took on the green monster below the other day and after 30 minutes or so with the instructions from the internet - in Czech - and our Google translate programs achieved success... and just in time; the sock drawer was getting pretty thin!




And finally, we had the kick-off 'Discussion Club' meeting on Tuesday.  There were fourteen people and we decided to have two sessions, Advanced and Intermediate English, on Wednesday's.  Advanced at 6 PM and the Intermediate on the same night at 7:15.

So until later......

St. Paddy's Day Festivities

A Group Effort

It's a good thing I finally got here since I was positive BJ was having trouble functioning without me. And I was right ... since arriving last Monday she was only able to acclimate, clean and adapt to a new apartment, attend a Seniors Coffee Meeting, Bible Hour, trip to sing for the 'boys' at the handicapped facility in Zampach, visit a local elementary level school to discuss future weekly sessions with the English class students, (deep breath ...), and shop and prepare a St Patrick's Day meal (including 'corning' beef bought at local butcher) and festivities for 30 people scheduled for Sunday lunch. Whew... it's good I'm here to save her by assisting with The Unicorn video acting out the green alligators and long-necked geese....ETC. 

One of the ETC

Czech style Green Beer (Thanks Danny!!)

So the real adventure begins as we move into the first official week here in Letohrad.  We will mainly be feeling out the proposed programs to determine schedule as we continue to adapt to the preferences of the congregation and town's people.

Finally!

Need to get you caught up.  B.J. arrived in Letohrad on Monday, March 13 after we decided that 50% accomplishment of the mission was better than nothing.  As you can see it was just too tempting not to rub in having a passport WITH visa and a Czech Beer!!

But no hard feelings.  I am sitting in Vienna airport waiting for a hop to Prague around noonish.  Got the call from the consulate early afternoon this past Wednesday and took a quick run over to pick up the passport WITH visa.  The consulate was very accommodating since they close at 1130 daily (that is close of business Prague time) but they made arrangements for me to pick it up later in the day.  All in all the consulate here in Washington was a very big help; sent a couple messages inquiring about my visa.  Whether that did any good or the visa simply had 'reached its time' is immaterial; the goodwill was appreciated.
BJ performed a miracle and with some United Airlines points that have been in the hopper for quite a while, and produced a quick turnaround and here I sit.
Will be in Letohrad late this afternoon (Friday); will try to decompress since Saturday is preparation for St Paddy's Day at the church Sunday afternoon and there is cooking and planning to be done.  Hope I can stay awake.
That's it for now.. keep in touch.

3 March 2017
We're just into March and we finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.  Called the Czech Consulate at the Washington Embassy this morning to check on visa status and found out we where half the way there!  B.J.'s visa was "approved and issued" but mine is still in limbo.  Huh?  B.J.'s and not mine... doesn't seem right; thought they were being processed as a pair.  But we figured it out that since we are using different surnames -- a legacy enforced by our long-standing passports-- they were being processes in alphabetical order and they just have not made it to the "S" stack yet.  Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So we wait, although with lots more hope and anticipation.  We are energized that my visa will pop out of the system early next week and we can get the logistics fired up and get moving.  The waiting has been exasperating.

Wish us luck and a quick prayer would be in order.

Ed