English Convo & Prayers for Health

Today, I'm posting from the comfort of the puffy white down comforters on my bed. It's amazing how a little sunshine and fluffy blankets can make sickness feel just slightly glamorous. :) I'm sipping on some medicinal tea for colds; I'm fairly certain this is the Czech version of our Theraflu tea in the States (which works wonders, fyi).

I wish I had taken more opportunities to capture some pictures from the past few days. We've had some amazing interactions with people! Wednesday, I had two one-on-one English Conversation meetings with women. One of the ladies even invited me to go horseback riding with her in the coming weeks! She said the owner of the ranch might be willing to trade English Conversation for riding lessons; I'm praying for continued open doors and follow-through on things like this. I don't want to waste any opportunities or only recognize them in hindsight! Wednesdays are also Open House nights. While I didn't get a picture of the actual Open House gathering, I did manage to capture the handsome "Mishka the Morče." Anytime someone has a pet, it does wonderful things for my animal-loving heart.

"Morce" means "Guinea Pig" in Czech

Yesterday, Daniel and I had incredible experience presenting on American culture and holidays in an English class at a Kostel member's school. I was thankful for the past experience of doing this last November when Fusion's team first visited the Czech Republic. This was Daniel's first time in the classroom setting like that. Students were fairly shy to use their English, but it was a lot of fun. I stuck around the school after the class period to chat with the teachers about politics, segregation, and the educational system; I also handed out our English Conversation business cards, offered to return if any students needed help with their English, and invited the staff to English Conversation on Thursdays.

Again, didn't get a pic of the class, but the yellow building is the school

Yesterday was also our first official English Conversation night! In both the kids' and adults' times, we played Jenga; on some of the pieces, English topics or questions were written. If they pulled out those pieces, they had to read it aloud and answer it or talk about it. Additionally, we had a bowl full of random questions to discuss. It was a little quiet in both groups until the very end. The very last question that was pulled out of the discussion bowl was, "What is your country famous for?" That got everyones' attention and excitement. People said the Czech Republic invented tights and contact lenses. There was also mention of a movie producer, a musician, a professional athlete, and an inventor of a car part that I didn't recognize. I assigned everyone to return next Thursday with a question or topic for discussion; I'm hoping for more actual flow of conversation next time around. It's a learning process though; I certainly didn't go to school for TESL. 

My art-loving heart also wants to share pictures of local graffiti with you. Some of you may not understand or recognize graffiti as an art form, but entertain me for a moment, because I'm a huge fan! :) Look at this stuff - that's some serious talent! 

This weekend: it's the long-awaited event of the year - Petr and Lucie's Wedding!!!! Petr and Lucie are key members in Kostel Jinak, so this is a big deal.

How You Can Be Praying:

- HEALTH! Lucie is sick with a cold; I'm sick. Really, Lucie, as the bride, needs the most prayers here. But it would be great if everyone is in full health for the big day of celebration tomorrow

- TONIGHT: a film on Jan Hus is premiering. If you're not familiar with Jan Hus, he was a major icon of the Protestant movement in Europe back in the day. This is a big outreach opportunity, and there's an after-party at Kostel Jinak tonight as well. 

- Follow-up/follow-through with some of the English Conversation people I'm meeting. I seem to have made some good connections with people, but I sure hope that's not just my one-sided optimism. 

Thanks for all the share of our blog, prayers and comments of encouragement. No matter how small, it keeps us feeling connected to home. It also helps remind us we're not in this alone.

To get short, quick updates of our days, feel free to request to join the Facebook group, "Daniel & Jennifer Go to the Czech Republic," OR follow me on instragram @cakesmccrumbles, #nhckosteljinak.