Checking out Czech

We headed to Prague early Saturday morning...what a beautiful place. We are about a 3 hour and 15 minute drive, so not bad at all. It would be much faster but most of it is 2 lanes and through a lot of small towns. I wouldn't call the drive pretty, especially this time of year...but the City of Prague (Praha) is fantastic.

Pictures: Jewish Cemetary (see below), open air market with tons of food booths - this one was the biggest pan ever cooking a potato,onion, bacon concoction, Toy and Barbie Museum (see below), soldiers outside of the big palace/castle, our family on the famous Charles Bridge.

We arrived in town by 11:30 and spent the rest of the day and through Sunday at 3:00 exploring. There is much to see and even more to eat! The city has some amazing history - as do many European towns, but it is fun to learn as we go. One fact that stunned me as there was a thriving Jewish culture in Prague, about 120,000 successful and hardworking Jewish people and after WWII there were only about 10,000 surviving. Astonishing and sad to learn more and more. We were able to see the Jewish Cemetary and a few synagogues, but we look forward to seeing and learning more when we go back. The cemetary was somber and interesting, they only had so much room (not much) for their dead so they had to keep stacking graves and dirt up so the ground is all uneven and the tombstones are leaning all over.

The food and lodging was inexpensive, which was a nice change from Vienna. We found some really great local food. Lots of potatoes, cabbage, dumblings, ham, these dough sugar things (Trulniks or something like that) YUMMY!! Eric had to roll me back into the car.

The people were SUPER friendly there. This was also a nice change from Vienna. There are MANY things I enjoy about this city - but the general friendliness is NOT one of them. I think I have been here long enough that I can make a generalization: The Viennese are crabby. Not ALL, but most. They do NOT smile often - especially to strangers. I asked a local about this and he said that it is considered flirty -- so I guess I have been flirting with many people these last few months! I understand it all a bit more after talking and learning - but I still miss the friendliness of the USA.

The Czech's were very friendly and welcoming of the English language. I know this sounds crazy - but I had such a wonderful feeling speaking English and not feeling badly about it... and actually enjoying it!! I didn't have to try to think so hard for a weekend and it was lovely that they didn't look down upon you for being a foreigner.

We went to the Toy and Barbie Museum - random but fun. Julia and I LOVED the barbie section -- ones from the beginning all the way to now and even prototypes that weren't ever made. They had so many I didn't know existed - including Gestational Barbie (not really the name I don't think!) -- I laughed ALL weekend on this one.

That is definitely a city we will have to return to at some point prior to our departure from Europe!

Eric leaves tomorrow for Kazikstan (I think I spelled this wrong!) He is excited...

Shamrock Shake Hunt

So the Smith Family is jonesin' for a McDonald's Shamrock shake. Julia 'heard' that one of the Vienna McDonald's has them....but we need better data from her! I am going to attempt to make some on Thursday if they can't be located. Funny the weird stuff you miss!!

Busy and fun weekened. Friday night we watched Big! (Tom Hanks) I have been trying to think of 'older' movies that are kid friendly as Evan is out of the animation all the time movies and Julia is still little. Any ideas? We did Jurassic Park I last weekend - Julia didn't finish it yet as she had to head to bed. Not sure if we'll finish that one with her.

Saturday brought a beautiful day of weather and fun. Evan had a soccer game and it is official that he made the U11 team that he didn't make this fall. We are very proud of him. It is a good team and he will have to earn some more playtime, but his German and soccer have improved and the coach seems happy with him now. This is great news. He then had basketball practice. He has practice 2 times per week but games are few and far between. He has been asking to stop for a few weeks now as soccer picked up again. It is hard because, once again, he is smallest and youngest by almost 2 years... but he has hung in there really well. The season's kind of go all year here, which I think is dumb. Anyway - he played in a tournament today (2 games) and then he is calling it for this season. Eric would really like for him to keep his foot in the door a bit so when he gets back to the States he can still play if he wants.

After soccer, Julia and I went shopping for a friend's birthday gift. We had such a great time in the jewelery and walgreen type store and she did a great gift of nailpolish, lip gloss, headbands, jewelery, etc... We had so much fun shopping and we haven't spent enough time together lately, just her and I. We often talk about all the extra time we had together last year with her in 1/2 day kindergarten and we both miss it dearly. It seems evenings go by too quickly and there isn't enough time for dancing around, playing games, hanging out stuff.... quite an adjustment this year for us both :(!!

After we watched a little of the basketball, Julia had her party. It was a great party at her friend Olivia's house. A posh dressy luncheon...so cute. I left for a bit and sat at Starbucks to do my German homework. Eric and Evan hung out at the park (it was really warm and nice today) and tried his slackline for the first time. It is like a bouncy tight rope type sport... I'll have to take a picture. They said it was fun - can't wait to try it.

I have been working on our Spring break trip -- end of April. We are headed to Turkey for a week. We are all very excited. I am interested in going East a lot from here as it is SO much cheaper and more accessible than from the States. We would also love to see Greece - I am banking on that next summer :) I would also like to go camping on the Coatian coast before we leave for the States, after the kids get out of school - but not sure Eric could swing that work wise! Those are my lofty plans so far!

We watched some CNN English tonight of the devastation in Japan. So very sad. I have a good friend here who moved from Tokyo in April and is married to a japanese man. All of their family and friends are okay, but a cousin was missing for awhile. Such devastation there - so sad.

Eric heads to Kazakhstan on Monday for a week... a really cool trip for him.

Have a great week!

Fat Tuesday

It is called "Fasching" (I think I am spelling that right) here in Austria today -- day before lent/Fat Tuesday. It would be neat to see Carnival in Venice today/tomorrow. People dress us here and there have been halloween costumes in the stores the last month. At the grocery store today employees were dressed up and I think a lot of Austrian children dress. I'm thinking tomorrow is the day to find next year's halloween costumes on sale! :) Austrian tradition is also to eat Krapfen today - which we did. These are marmalade filled donut type things.

I can't believe we are into March already. Wow! The sun has been shining a lot (Thank God) but it is still pretty cold. My friend Ida and I are still running to train for the 1/2 marathon on April 17th. We were proud of ourselves today as we did an 8 mile run. Yeah! She is such a great running partner so that is awesome!

Julia had a playdate at a friend's house today. This was a good step for her as she has been shy to go to anyone's house. I had to bring them from school to Lily's house so she was comfortable. All went well so I was thankful for that. They are a very nice Hungarian/British family. Julia thought it was so fun she had the British flag huge on her wall (painted) in pink and purple. Really cute.

Evan got some good news on Saturday and his coach of the U11 team he has wanted on so bad, told us to get his player card. I think this means he is on the team. Yeah!!! Huge news! He continues to love to play the violin. Thank you Grandma Jane for the music genes!!

It sounds funny to say, but we are going to Turkey for Spring Break next month. Yeah! I don't have everything figured out yet - but at least have our plane tickets bought from here to Istanbul and back. It is so hard to decide where to travel to - SOOOO many places, so little time. We picked one that is MUCH MUCH cheaper to get to from here vs. the States. (verus say London or Paris - although I REALLY hope to see all these places too!)

Planning a trip in early April (one month) to Germany to see Aunt Christy, Uncle David, Alexandra and Christian. Their time in Honolulu is wrapping up and we are SO excited to have them close (about 6 hours is close enough!) to us. YEAH!!

Some have heard this already, but not my Mom so here goes :)....

in Ikea a few days ago and a lady asked me (in English) about something I was buying at the Kassa (cash registers) I explained it to her nicely and then said a small statement in German -- to practice. (She seemed nice:)) She then asked me if I was learning German and I said that yes, I was trying. She asked for how long - I said proudly - 5 months and she said "You should try harder" I honestly still can't believe how rude she was!!!!! I asked my German teacher for a german sentence to say back so now I know to say "Das ist unverschamt." Which means that is rude. Nuff said!

Back to Life Back to Reality

Back a week from our wondeful ski vacation. The kids weren't thrilled to go back to school and I am pretty sure Eric felt the same way about work.

I tried to load some video from the camera onto this blog but it doesn't work. I have to figure out a way to share video clips easier via internet with family et.c.. If anyone is reading this and knows how, please ring in! I have some great skiing videos of the kids and a wonderful video from Evan's violin recital yesterday.

His first recital was yesterday and he did an amazing job. Eric accompanied him on piano which was very cool and so sweet. They put in a lot of practice time for about 3 days as Evan and his teacher switched songs as of Thursday. He did two songs and really nailed them! Even when Eric faltered a bit on the first piece, Evan kept composed and right on going. It was great!

Julia's was preparing her outfit for the recital and I heard her say, "Dad, do you think this will be okay for the big recital?" And I heard Eric say, "You look beautiful, but I think the crown may be too much" She is SO funny! So that day when she dressed, she instead had a hot pink headband with a veil. I said that I thought that wasn't appropriate for the recital and she said "It is the crown or the veil, pick one" Luckily I convinced her to wear the sparkly glittery black headband instead. She is the best combination of Fancy Nancy and Tom Boy... the best!

Did I tell you that Evan is trying out again for the U11 Fortuna team that he didn't make in the fall? He has been attending those practices with the hope of getting on "Max's team" this spring and going forward. I tell you, this kid has guts. I LOVE that he will go in there again with confidence and try again. We are hopeful but guarded as the coach is not very nice and the dynamics are quite strange in general. So - prayers for Evan, he really wants on that team. He played on Saturday for 10 min in their game, so that is a good start.

More soon...

Holy snow!

It startes snowing yesterday and snowed all night. we woke up to about 20 inches (i should be using centimeters but can't quite switch to metric yet:)) of fresh snow.... so gorgeous!! You can hear the snow machines grooming the slopes all night. The deep snow made skiing a bit different and harder, but it was so great! Hurts less to fall too!! :). Evan did a 5th day of 7 plus hours of sking... that kid does not stop and Eric is loving the afternooons skiing with Ev! Julia is skiing till about 130 each day, which is quite amAzing!

the meals here are amazing! dinner tonight was 5 courses! my fave dessert this week as it was fruit and a chocolate fondue fountain!!

Last day of skiing tomorrow.... wow what a week!

Still on the slopes....

Well today is Day 4 on the slopes and I have never been skiing this much in a row! I made it until almost 1pm today and we all usually meet up at 1:30 here for a free lunch buffet. Julia has not wanted to go out in the afternoons, we will see what today brings She is only 7 and skiing HARD with all of the adults/older kids for 4.5 hours each day - so I am 'letting her' :) stop at 1:30 if she wants. Yesterday she then hit the pool for 3 hours -- needless to say she almost feel asleep in her dinner. As most of you can imagine, Evan would rather take NO breaks or lunch and ski from 9am until mountain closes at 4:30! It is snowing today - much needed snow! The visibility isn't great, but it is beautiful and the slopes needed it big time. It is supposed to snow hard today and tonight - so I am excited to see what it feels like to ski in that kind of snow tomorrow.

I have been mostly skiing with my Swedish friend Ulrika as her and I are pretty slow. This works out very well and is fun. The only thing I don't like is that I don't get to see the kids ski. Eric said he would try to take some camera video for me so I can see them. Ulrika and I take more cafe latte breaks!

So the Sauna... saunas are huge in Austria and clothes are "not allowed" and no one seems to mind. In fact all the changing rooms at public pools and such are co-ed. Yesterday a lady was at the indoor hotel pool topless and then got up to swim with her kids and first wiggled into her bikini top. It is still SO strange to me. I have decided I can't begin to understand this nudity thing because it is just something that they grow up with and it just isn't an issue at all. There are like 6 sauna rooms here and this room that i Love that has 3 waterbeds with headphones that have soft music playing. So relaxing. I have done the sauna a few times but just go in with a towel around me. I also try to enter only saunas that have no one in them. It is fine to be in a sauna and have people come in but I HATE walking into one with already naked people in it.

We are here with 3 other families... another American family that is from DC but has lived in Vienna 3.5 years, a Swedish family and an Italian/Scottish family. It makes for fun dinner converstaion about how different countries handle health care, education, nudity :), language learning in school, business etc.. Combined the people at the table have seen SOOOOO much of the world - it is so facinating and such a nice learning experience for me. Of course, I am usually the doof of the crowd :)!

We leave on Saturday so 2 more days of skiing after this.

Ski Break

We arrived yesterday at Nassfeld in Austria for our ski week holiday. It is on the Italian border in the Alps and it is fantastic. The weather in Austria has been too warm and not enough snow, but after skiing today it wasn't bad at all. (my standards are fairly low though!)

The hotel is great and we have "half board" which means we get breakfast and dinner here, which is very fun and nice. There are 3 other families here that we know so that is fun. The pool area is great for the kids and everyone is having a great time.

Julia and I made it till 1:30 or so today and then came in fora little nap...she was tired. (okay, I was too!) Tomorrow I booked a massage (Happy Valentines Day to me!) and then will do the Sauna as it is woman's only for a few hours in the afternoon. I will soon do a whole blog on Austrian Saunas ... a crazy and interesting experience all in itself. (you can't wear clothes and it is men and women all the time... SO NOT American! :)) I did go in tonight with a towel around me but don't really like all the fat old men and their junk hanging out everywhere...yuck!

The food is good, the company is good, the skiing is good, the wine is good and I don't have to cook/do dishes/clean up -- I am in heaven. Hee hee