Chicago Connection

This week was very interesting! Classes are really heating up and shaping up to be quite a challenge. Thursday night we went with the other students on a tour of all these old churches. We saw the Church where St. Wenceslas was killed and a couple other neat churches. Honestly, it was too cold for me to really get into it. Our guide said that the churches don’t have any heat and that attendance drops off in the winter! They lost my attendance! Later we went to dinner and had some real Czech food. Some of the students tried the steak tartar, which is raw hamburger with a raw egg on top of it. I was so grossed out! I was like, “What the Czech is going on here!” (That is my new favorite line.)

Friday we went into Prague and went to the Prague Castle. It is where they have ruled the country (when possible) and touts the St. Vitus Cathedral. It was absolutely incredible! The stain glass inside was breathtaking. I had been impressed by Notre Dame (that’s the church, not the team) but it looks like an old barn compared to this. Then we met up with our good friends Patrick and Liz and Gregg (my roomie from Mexico) and his girl friend for dinner.

So I was sitting on the end of the table right next to a stairwell that went down to the bathroom. We had knocked back a couple bottles of Sprite, which indecently costs twice as much as the beer over here and I knocked one of the empty glass bottles off the table. With cat-like reflexes, I moved my foot and prevented the bottle from hitting the ground. Unfortunately, it propelled the bottle just enough to make it to the stairwell where it bounced three times before smashing into the bottom wall. It was amazing that the bottle bounced three times without breaking and I thought that I actually might get away with it at one point. We all sat kind of stunned before bursting into laughter with about 50 Czechs wondering what was going on. Then about 5 minutes later the balloon that Connor had tied to his wrist popped and all eyes were on us again. It was a sight to see! Connor just standing in the middle of the room with a limp string tied around his wrist with quite a bewildered look on his face.

Today (Sunday) we went to Church and had a good day. They sun was shining and was truly the best weather that we have had since we got here. It may have gotten up to about 50 degrees and we didn’t even have to wear gloves. People say that it is a total fluke and we will be back to sub-freezing temps real soon. Come on global warming! A really neat family invited us over for dinner after church. They are Christopher and Jenny Marchant and he works at the US embassy. They live in the nicest part of Prague where all the ex-pats and money live so it was really fun. Dinner was awesome and we had a great time. No bottles knocked over or anything! Connor was the hit of primary again and is the only one who will give the prayer. Cute little kid.

So, now for another week of grueling classes. We are doing really well and enjoying the experience.

Love,

Danny, Andrea, Connor

Happy Valentines Day:)

Danny studied all day, then he came home and we had dinner. He made me a really funny card when he realized how bad the night was going to get because I did not get anything for valentine’s day.

Here is a funny email I got from my sister that made me laugh.

Hi Family,

Just wanted to say Happy Valentines Day!! One of my co-workers got
delivered chocolate covered strawberries to work today from her
boyfriend! I said…I want a boyfriend! Only boyfriends do those
things and husbands don’t. All of us married girls at work just
laughed b/c none of our husbands delivered anything to us.

Owen and I are celebrating Valentine’s Day (once again) as a study
date together in the library.

My next test is Friday and Owen has a big test on Thursday. All of
your prayers worked miracles last time. Please remember to pray for
me Friday.

I sure hope all this studying will pay off someday. I am so tired of
studying. I just want to relax and watch T.V.

Hope everyone is doing well. I love you!
Camy

****************************
I love you Camy- Thanks for a good laugh! I want a boyfriend too, maybe we can just teach our husbands to court us again! But then again..maybe we should give them a break. I guess school is a little stressful. When our hubbys get jobs, I’ll deliver chocolate strawberries to you if you will deliver them to me —-they are my favs!

Happy Anniversary; 7 years!

Today was Danny’s and my 7-year anniversary. We went out to dinner and walked around downtown Prague; it was great. I can’t believe how fast 7 years has gone. I love him more and more every day, and don’t know what I would do without him.

Someone told us the other day. You guys look “so comfortable in your marriage, like you have it down”. That’s a nice complement, I thought. Like all marriages there are ups and downs good times and not so good times; this year we are having a great time and really are “comfortable in our marriage.”

I love my Danny; he is a good dad and a great husband. Together, we work hard at our marriage, because marriage is hard work; but I am very, very, blessed. Happy 7 years sweetie. Here is to 70 more!

Hi Everyone,

Here is our phone number 602-490-0670. It’s an Arizona phone number (you pay for an AZ phone call), and our computer rings in Prague. You just use your phone like a normal phone call and normal long distance rates for you calling Arizona will apply. So call us!

If you don’t want to pay long distance calls and want to call us for free check out www.skype.com. Look to the right toolbar on the “Pages” section and click on the link that says “Skype Baby”. I made a page where you can find all the info you need to call us or anyone else, for free!




The first full day we were here we met some new friends, Geo and Krissy. They came to our rescue by offering to feed us lunch at their apartment because nothing in Celakovice (the little town we live in) is open on Sunday.

Celakovice is about 25 minutes by train outside of Prague. From what I know so far Celakovice and Prague are two different worlds. Prague is where the ex-pats and Americans live and Celakovice is well, like nothing I have ever experienced…it’s a very old, traditional town. Hardly anyone here speaks English; well at least no one in the grocery store, but more on that later. The people that work here at the hotel all speak English and they are wonderful!

After lunch we decided we needed to experience the local culture. So we got on a train that took us to Prague and headed in to… IKEA! Funny I know. But what better place for meatballs, dishes, and silverware? We figured out how to take the train and subway into town. This is a little difficult when you are reading signs and dealing with a language that has seven consonants for every vowel. I mean, I don’t even know where to start there? After enjoying a lovely dinner along with shopping for the necessities we decided to split a cab for the return trip home.

Breakfast and Lunch are provided here in the hotel cafeteria for 80 czk (pronounced crowns) or $3.50 per person, and Connor is free. Not bad prices. Dinner is up to us. With one mini fridge and a hot plate, this is going to be interesting. I decided it was time to go shopping, stay tuned to learn about our first trip to the grocery store.