Potštejn and Home

25 April
Potštejn

Nad'a

Great Fun Room

We have been trying to fit in a trip to Potštejn to visit the Moravian church.  Nad'a Bět'ákova, the minister there, wanted us to visit to join in on the morning 'Mothers' Group' and two of her English language classes, as well as have lunch with her mother, Jane.  This past Tuesday we finally got our schedule flexible enough to make the trip.  The Moravian church there is under the auspices of the ECCB for national administration purposes and considered part of the family.  I really did not have a good idea of what the Mother's Group was but was soon sucked into the beautiful chaos of 5 mothers and a herd of kids..all boys!! For the next hour and a half or so, we greatly enjoyed the discussions (most moms were quite good with English (one, Denise, having lived in Chicago area for several years) and the interactions of both kids and moms.  One of the mothers, Marta - a local elementary school teacher - brought out her guitar and we all joined in some Czech kid's songs as well as a few stories and demonstrations. Take a look at the following for a quick lunch - Marta Baking a Loaf of Bread.

Off to lunch with grandmom (great-grandmom, actually) and treated to the usual wonderful bowl of soup and this day, a sweet main course of plumb dumplings.  I don't have the culinary expertise to explain those dumplings but just trust me, it was a real treat!  A quick walk (well ...  when it comes to Nad'a, there is no such thing as a 'short' walk) and then plans to pop by the church to meet the English classes.

The 'Glen'

However, on the walk we stopped by a monument, Modlivý Důl, just up the trail from town.  The translation is not straight forward but the closest is a 'praying glen' - glen as in a Scottish glen.  The
30 Years War was a series of conflicts, 1618 to 1648, between Protestant and Catholic states in, mainly, Central Europe.  The resulting Catholic win drove the Protestants underground.  The Modlivý Důl was an area where the Protestants gathered in secret at night to worship.  So, onward to the English classes in which we shared some slides and comments about Annapolis and Florida, our two hang-outs during an average year.

Home to Letohrad ....
... just in time for our Advanced Beginner class-- in fact, the train schedule did not support a timely return so one of our advanced beginners, Marcela Valentova, arranged a 'fast taxi' back; her friend gave us a quick tour of the back roads surrounding Letohrad!  But that is business and this blog is fun... so. On the train with Nad'a that morning, she gave us a hand out on the LegioVlak.  Take a look at the photo of the flyer.  The story is about the Czech participation in the conflict in Russia immediately following World War I in which Lenin's revolutionary forces (the Reds or Bolsheviks) were being

Nad'a and The LegioVlak

A Tank?

challenged by the 'Whites' or the counter-revolutionaires.  A replica train was constructed (see the drawing at the bottom of the flyer) and is currently touring the Czech Republic.  It is scheduled for 29 different stops from March to December of this year. This week it was in Letohrad on a side track at the train station.  There are several guides with the train who conduct daily tours.  The morning we were there (it was raining...duh) there was group after group of school classes jamming each of the various cars...good to see a interest in Czech history.  Nad'a met us there to help translate but there is enough to stay half a day and we needed to get back to complete preps for that night's two Discussion Groups. I would love to have had English translations and spent the day there...
but alas....