We are sick

There isn't much going on here since we are all sick. The girls and I have been sick for about a week. We all went to the doctor today. I was a little worried about bringing the girls to the pediatrician since I knew that pediatricians here do not deal with kids ears. I was worried that she would send us to an ear, nose and throat doctor. The reason I was worried about that was because I know that the Czech method for dealing with ear infections is to pop the ear drum. I am not on board with that method so I didn't want to go to an ear nose and throat doctor b/c I didn't want to deal with the argument. Luckily our pediatrician just listened to what we said and checked a couple things on the girls (although not the ears) and decided to write prescriptions for a lot of medicine...Augmentin plus ear drops, nose drops and eye drops for Ali and Augmentin plus an expectorant for Sofia. My doctor wrote me a prescription for Augmentin as well as some gargling solution. Jason is also sick but not as sick as the rest of us and since his just started he hasn't needed to go to the doctor yet. I went to the pharmacy on the way home from the doctor. It makes me laugh when dealing with hospitals and pharmacy here since there idea of expensive and my idea are nowhere near the same. The pharmacy was concerned about me having to pay for all the medicines. The way that our insurance works (since we have the foreigners insurance) is that we pay upfront for all prescriptions and then anything over 100Kc we get reimbursed (that is about $5.50USD). While it is nice to get the money back the prescriptions here are so cheap that I'm not even concerned about it. We got 7 prescriptions for about 1000Kc or $55. In the US that would have been a minimum of $70 if you consider a $10 copay per prescription. The reality is that I'm sure some of them wouldn't have been generic and would have cost more then $10. It is just another interesting difference between the US and the Czech Republic.

Thank you Auntie Carlene!!

The girls love getting mail. They love cards. The really love when packages come in the mail. Yesterday a package came from Auntie Carlene. It was all the girls could do to wait to get upstairs so they could open it. We got upstairs and I let them sit on the floor and tear into the envelope. Sofia knew right away that it was an apron. I don't know how she knew. I can only guess that she has seen aprons at school. She wanted to put it on and, of course, Ali wanted to do the same as her sister. They loved that it was Santa and a snowman. Sofia asked why? I told her that Auntie Carlene sent them so that they could help mommy make cookies for Christmas. The eyes lit up and she asked, "Can we make them now??" How could I resist. Here is a short video of the girls with their aprons. Just click "Play" and hopefully you will have sound on your computer as well so you can hear the girls.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

No, the Czech's do not celebrate our American Thanksgiving but we did! Our friends hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for about 70 people. I thought it was suppose to be about 40 but there was definitely more than 40 people there. In order to have enough food to feed everyone many people made food. We were tasked with making a turkey. I thought, "no problem". Then the reality started to set in.

My friend gave me the turkey to prepare. When she dropped off the turkey she said, "there may be feathers still on the bird that you need to take out. Also, the neck may not be cut off like they are on American turkeys so you may have to trim that. Also, keep in mind that the ovens here are convection and not like US ovens so the turkey won't take as long to cook.". At this point I thought, "oh my! What did I get myself into??". I brought the turkey upstairs and put it in the fridge. It did fit on the bottom shelf of the fridge as long as I took everything off that shelf and moved the next shelf up. I decided to see if it would fit in the oven. It did fit but just barely. I realized I needed a pan to cook the turkey in so I measured the oven and went to the local kitchen shop. It took a little bit but I found a pan and headed home. I went to put it in the oven to double check that it would fit and guess what? That's right. It didn't fit! It was just a hair too big. I decided I would wait until the morning and head to Tesco to find a new one. I asked Jason if he could stay home from work on Thanksgiving day rather than take a half day so that he could help me with the turkey. I felt like this needed to be a team effort. He agreed to stay home after he checked his work schedule and saw there was nothing critical. I was very thankful! I headed to Tesco in the morning looking for a big roasting pan, although not too big since it had to fit in our oven, and hopefully a turkey roasting bag. We had hopes of brining the turkey but we didn't have anything big enough to hold the turkey but I couldn't find any turkey roasting bags. Since we couldn't brine the turkey we decided on putting salt, pepper, butter and herbs under the skin o the turkey to keep it moist. So, after I plucked the feathers out of the turkey, Jason put the butter/herb mixture under the skin and we put it in the oven. the turkey barely fit in the oven...the legs were actually touching the side of the oven. It all worked out great and we had a nice moist tasty turkey when we were finished. I took the turkey off the bone and we brought it to our friends for dinner.

We had a great dinner with all the fixins...turkey, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing plus a lot of pie. Sofia had her first taste of jello and loved it and Ali had a chocolate chip pie which she thought was very good. The kids had fun playing with the other kids that were there. Clark and Lucy's rooms were definitely not as neat and tidy when we left as they were when we arrived. All the kids had a blast playing in their rooms. It was a great Thanksgiving and a great time to say thanks for having such great friends in Prague.

Cooking frustration

We finally have our stove working again. I was excited to be able to use it and decided to make meatloaf with sweet potatoes and asparagus. I bought the meat yesterday at the grocery store and went to eh potraviny near Sofia's school today to get sweet potatoes and asparagus. All was ready to start making the meatloaf. I took the meat out of the refrigerator and opened it and my hopes were dashed...the meat was BAD!! How can this be?? I just bought the meat yesterday! Well, apparently you can have the package date and use by date the same. I have been burnt on expired products before but it has been kept to the dairy aisle. I am always aware of the use by dates on dairy products because of that. Now I have learned I have to be the same way with meat from the grocery store. Another reason to just go to our local butcher. Oh well, I guess we will just have to wait until tomorrow for meatloaf.

Birthday parties

A few week back I brought Sofia to her friend Anna's birthday party. This is the first birthday party that Sofia has gone to. Jason stayed home to watch Ali since the party was during Ali's nap time and Sofia and I hopped in a cab and headed to her friend's house. I had looked up the bus schedules but the bus times on Saturdays to Nebusice are not ideal and come less than 1 an hour so it didn't really work. The party was a princess theme so Sofia got to wear her princess dress outside the apartment again which she thought was fun. We arrived at the house and Sofia was excited to see the house decorated for the party. There were party games for the kids to play. Sofia took part in some of them but not all. Some of them were interesting to me since Sofia's friend is British the games were games that I had never seen. After the games were done, food and cake were eaten the kids headed out into the backyard (or garden as it is called here). Sofia's friend had a big trampoline in the backyard. I told Sofia she couldn't go on it but when I went inside she disregarded me and went on it. When I cam back outside I went over and took her off the trampoline. After a little while of every other child on the trampoline I caved and let Sofia go on with her friends. The trampoline was completely screened in so was as safe as a trampoline was going to be so I decided to not be so overprotective. She had a great time jumping around with her friends. At the end we ended up catching a ride back home with one of her friends who lives near us. It was much better than going to wait for the bus!

It was great that Sofia has this birthday party to go to since Ali went to her friend Natalie's birthday party on the Thursday before. Sofia was sad that she missed Natalie's birthday party but knowing that she was going to another party on Saturday and that Natalie's mom, Joanna, sent home a favor bag for Sofia helped her accept missing it.

We went to Owen's birthday party last weekend. Ali and I had gone shopping for Owen's present which took a little while since Ali couldn't decide what we should get. I finally had to make an executive decision. We came home and wrapped up the present and put it on my bureau. When Sofia saw the present I told her it was for Owen's birthday party. Everyday after that she would ask me if we had gone to Owen's party. I think she thought she was going to miss it like she missed Natalie's party. I had to keep explaining that we were all going to Owen's party. On Saturday morning when I told her we were going to Owen's she was all excited. It was fun for all of us. The kids got to run around and play and Jason and I got to talk to our friends as well. The party favor bag included gummy treats which the kids loved. I have heard so many times, "gummy from Owen??".

We have another birthday party coming up for their friends Lucy and Clark. Both kids (and Jason and I) are looking forward to Lucy and Clark's birthday party. It is fun to see the kids play together especially on special days.

All these parties are good for me to see so that I will know what I'm suppose to do when Sofia's birthday comes around.

Potraviny

We don't really have stores in the US that are equivalent to a Potraviny but they are like a mini market...bigger than cumberland farms but not a full supermarket. I often go to the potraviny on my street to pick up small things. Today was my second time going to the potraviny near Sofia's school. It is a great Potraviny that my friend Shanna told me about. It has stuff that is hard to find elsewhere. I imagine it is because they get a lot of business from expats but I really don't know. Anyway, I went there today and picked up sweet potatoes, baby asparagus, chocolate covered raisins and baby carrots. I know, it doesn't sound exciting but when you live here those little things are something to write home about!

1st snow!!

We had our first snow of the season on Sunday. I always love the first snowfall of the year. When I saw it I quickly opened the patio doors so the girls could see it too. They were very excited. Sofia wanted me to leave the doors open while they ate breakfast so they could watch the snow. I told her it was too cold and she could just watch it through the window. I have been waiting for the snow to come. The weather has been very rainy lately. It pretty much rains every day. When it isn't rainy it is just cold and gray. It has just felt like snow on so many days that it was nice to finally see it arrive. It only stuck to the ground for about an hour and then it turned to rain but it was fun while it lasted.

Another Ikea trip...

Jason and I had been thinking about moving to a new apartment but we have decided we will stay where we are. With the decision to stay in our apartment was the decision that we finally had to decorate and really make it into our space. With that in mind we decided a trip to Ikea was needed. We secured our babysitter for the Sunday. Saturday night we measured everything and went through the Ikea catalog and website. We made our list of what we needed along with measurements. We wanted to make the trip as short as possible. That is a laugh! I'm convinced we just can't get out of Ikea in under 5 hours!!! I don't know what it is. When we went before I assumed the long time was becuase we had the kids with us and we didn't really know what we wanted. I was wrong. Apparently there is something about the store that makes it impossible to get in and out quickly. We left our apartment at 9:45 and got back at 4:15. We thought we would speed up the process by taking a cab since it takes about an hour to get to Ikea by metro. Thank goodness we took a cab or it would have taken another hour out of our day. I was grateful that the kids were not with us since I was exhausted which means they would have been miserable. The good thing though is that we got everything we needed (although we had to make a couple substitions). We brought as much home as we could and shipped the rest. With the stuff that we brought home yesterday the apartment is already looking better. I can't wait to get everything else delivered. I am at home now awaiting the Ikea delivery people. Once it arrives, let the building begin!

Dinner

Last night Jason and I finally went to Cantina Mexican restaurant. We had tried to go there repeatedly but I always forget to make a reservation until Friday. Whenever I would call on Friday they would already be completely booked. This week I called on Wednesday to make the reservation and was finally able to get in. I was looking forward to eating there since I had heard it is the only good Mexican food in Prague. We had tried other Mexican restaurants and knew how bad the food was so anything would be better. We got to the restaurant and it was packed. I had never been before and didn't know how big it was. It is not big but they cram a lot of people in the space that they have although you don't feel crowded. Maybe if we had 4 people at our table it would have felt crowded but with just the two of us it was perfect. I ordered fajitas and Jason got a burrito. We were both very happy with our food. It was nice to finally have good Mexican food. We both had margaritas which were very tasty.

Hail

Before we moved to Prague I think that I had seen hail only a few times in my life. Since we have lived here I have seen it a lot. I don't know what the weather pattern is here or why they seem to get more hail than we had in New England but it is just another difference. I often enjoy the hail storms since I am usually inside and can just enjoy the patter on the windows and seeing the balls of ice on the patio. Today was a different story. I went out for my morning run with Watson this morning. When I left our apartment it was not raining. By the time I had reached Letna park it was drizzling and by the time I was through Letna is was starting to rain pretty hard. I was still fine with running in the rain even though it was raining hard. There is something fun about running in the rain. As I started up the hill running past the Royal Gardens at the castle the wind really picked up and I had to run with my head down because the wind was whipping up leaves and dirt. At first I was thinking that I was just getting hit with pieces of leaves but then I realized it was hail. I was still willing to keep running but as I neared the entrance to the castle the hail really picked up and even with my head down it was stinging my cheeks. I had to draw the line at enduring pain so I decided to head for home. I think Watson was happy with my decision as well since he did not seem to like the hail at all.

Pre Trick or Treat

Before we headed out for trick or treat the girls and I headed over to our friend's house for dinner. The girls had fun playing with their friends as well as eating pizza and cupcakes. What more can a child (or adult even) ask for. . . friends, pizza, cupcakes and a night ahead filled with candy. Just to make sure the kids were ready for their adventures in trick or treating my friend Shanna held a practice. Here it is...although you will see only Sofia (with her friends) since Ali was still busy eating her cupcake!

I'm Ariel!!

The girls were thrilled when a package came from Grammie (Jason's mom) today. I waited until Ali was down for her nap before I opened the box because I knew I would never get her down if she saw what was inside . . . the much longed for Ariel costumes!!! I had to call the girls Ariel...., "no mommy, I'm Ariel not Sofia. Do you like my pretty long hair?" They have been having fun dressed up and pretending to be Ariel. It is kind of strange to see them with long hair. I just kept thinking well at least if they dye their hair when they get older they should look ok with red hair.

Trick or Treat

Halloween is not an important holiday in the Czech Republic. I'm told it migrated over here in the last five years or so but at most is celebrated with costume parties. Trick-or-treating is not generally done here. However, we had a desire to have the kids take part in that classic American tradition and luckily there are places where trick-or-treating occurs. There is a development in the village of Nebusice commonly referred to as Little America. This is a development, near the International School of Prague, filled with American, English, and many other expats and that's where many expats go on Halloween. We took our two princesses over there with some other American friends. Since the girls spend so much time dressed as princesses getting them ready for Halloween was really quite simply. The development itself is nice although very odd in that sense that you could be in a new housing development most anywhere in the US; it doesn't feel Czech at all. Sofia tends to be a bit shy at first around strangers in new situations like this but after that first house and she realized that simply knocking on a door and saying "trick or treat" got you candy she was on a mission. She lead the charge door to door, actually pushing open a door at one house and had a great time. We saw some of the other kids from Sofia's class so that was fun. Ali did well too. As we were leaving for the night some older kids set of a fire cracker. While that seemed to scare a bunch of younger kids somehow Sofia and Ali thought it was quite funny and Ali talked for a while about how she liked the fire cracker. The only down-side of the night was that the kids got a lot of small popsicles and other hard sucking candies and not much chocolate. The only reason I really cared was because it didn't give me much interesting stuff to take from them that night.

Women in My Shower

(Finally, a new entry from Jason) I go to the gym a few days a week. The gym is right across the road from the office so it's very convenient. The other day after working out I took a shower and I was a walking out of the shower when a woman, probably in her 20s, walks by and begins restocking the paper towels and cleaning the sinks. As others go to and from showers she begins to squeegee the floor of the shower room too. This doesn't bother me at all and nobody else seemed to care one bit that there was a woman walking around amongst men changing and showering but I realized this was yet another "you wouldn't see that in the US" event. It made me laugh to even think of what would happen if a gym in the US asked a female worker to clean the men's locker room while it was full of people.

This actually happens quite often, but this is the first time I got around to writing about it. I know I haven't blogged in a quite a while but I am going to try to do better about blogging about the little random things I encounter here that are different or interesting. We'll see how I do...