Burns Night

Saturday night was Burns Night. The Scottish contingent at the girls school holds a Burns night supper every year. For those of you not familiar with Robert Burns you can read about him HERE. We went last year and had such a great time. I have been looking forward to this since we walked out the door last year. Last year I had no idea what we were getting into and I wore a strapless dress. A strapless dress is not ideal for the vigorous Scottish dancing so this year I bought a halter dress and low heeled shoes. I also told our babysitter to not expect us until close to 3am since last year we didn't realize how late it would go and had to leave early. I was ready to go! This year the dinner was in a new location which was newly renovated and beautiful. As you arrived the bagpipes started to play which sounded lovely. It was so nice to have a night out with friends in such a fun atmosphere. It is fun to see all our Scottish friends in their kilts and all the ladies dressed up. We won the raffle again this year for a bottle of whiskey which I have put on the shelf behind the one we won last year. It was a lot of fun (even though I did have one klutzy moment) and I'm looking forward to having fun again next year on Burns Night! Here are a few pictures from the night.

No water, No Internet

As you all know my 2009 has started a little, shall we say, bumpy. Things are looking up but we had a minor stutter this past week, hence my lack of blog posts. We lost our internet connection for 4 days. Granted this was my fault since the bill was late but the bill has been a little late before and they never stopped our service. Our neighbors service was also stopped for late payment so I guess the internet company is getting a little touchy if your payment is a tiny bit late. Being without the internet is quite difficult. On top of the annoyance of not being able to just look something up I also had no skype. My skype rings out to my mobile phone if I don't pick it up so normally losing internet service wouldn't be a problem but this time it was b/c I ran out of skype credit (which is needed to send the calls to my mobile) and since I had no internet I couldn't add any credit to my skype account. To continue with my stumbling of 2009, we came home yesterday evening and had no water. Fortunately there were water trucks outside so we filled a couple buckets to get us through the night. We woke up this morning and still had no water. What is a girl to do...thank God for deodorant and perfume. I took the girls to school and went to a coffee morning for the parents in the girls class. Luckily for me my fellow class rep was leading the meeting. All is well now though. We have internet and water. I have learned my lesson and make sure I pay the bill early so the internet company doesn't turn us off again. I will hope that the construction around us doesn't break any more water pipes.

Fainting...

Today Sofia and I got up early, skipped breakfast (per the Doctor instructions) and headed up to the doctors office. We had to go back this morning to have Sofia's blood taken since we couldn't do it on Monday. We arrived early which was great since there weren't many people in the office ahead of us and it is a "take a number" place not a scheduled appointment. We took our number and sat down. We were quickly called in by the nurse. Sofia did pretty well and only cried a little bit while they were taking her blood. We finished about 8am which I thought was great b/c then I could get Sofia to school almost on time. Well, best laid plans..... After finishing with the blood I took Sofia back out to the reception area. I put her jacket, hat and one glove on when she started to wilt. I thought she was just being silly so I just took her other hand to put her glove on and she just continued to wilt. I looked at her and noticed her eyes roll back in her head and she dropped. Luckily for her I had a hold of her so she didn't hurt herself fainting. I quickly yelled, "PROSIM" since we were in a Czech doctor's office and the lady next to me was already up and getting the nurse. They were over to us very quickly and picked up Sofia and brought her to the bed in the doctor's office. She came to very quickly but had to be convinced to eat chocolate and drink water. She was groggy and I don't think she understood what was happening. We stayed there for quite a while. They took her blood pressure a couple times and listened to her heart. After all was well they let us go. Sofia was still a little tired so I carried her to the tram. I knew things still weren't right when she told me she didn't like the donut or chocolate muffin I bought her. I let her sit on my lap on the tram and by the time we reached her school she was all better and ready to play with her friends. I guess she is just like me....we need all of our blood in our bodies and without some of it we just pass out.

Skating

Over the christmas break Jason and I took the girls skating (as we previously posted). The girls loved skating so much that they "skate" all around the apartment. We decided we would try to get to an ice rink so that the girls could skate again. Last week I went on the search for skates for the girls and myself. I found skates for Sofia and me but Ali's feet are just too small and I couldn't find any skates for her. We will just have to rent skates for Ali this year and hopefully buy her skates next year. Fortunately the skates we bought Sofia are adjustable and therefore should fit her for the next couple years. I am hoping we can buy the same skates for Ali next year. I was excited to have new skates as well but with bronchitis etc. I hadn't been able to use them until today. Today I went to an ice rink that was outdoors. I thought it was an indoor rink when I headed there since it was slightly drizzling outside but realized when I go there that it was an outdoor rink. I decided to stay and skate anyway. I was the only one on the ice for the first 20 minutes which was fun. It took me a little bit to get use to my new skates since they are more like hockey skates but they have a toe pick. After skating for a bit I decided to have my skates sharpened. This helped a lot and while I am no where near my high school days of figure skating I'm not too bad either. It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to skating with the kids as well as skating with some friends.

Allergist

Sofia's hearing is still not very good. We have been back and forth to the ENT many times and have taken allergy medicine, antibiotics, and nose drops all in an attempt to clear her ears. Nothing has worked. Before they will discuss tubes though everything has to be looked at so today was our trip to the allergy/immunology doctor. Sofia had 20 pricks made in her forearm to test for allergies. It was not a pleasant process for her. I felt bad for her because I know it was painful. The upside is that she didn't have any allergic reaction. The downside of our visit was that they did not tell me in advance that Sofia couldn't eat before the immunology blood test so we need to go back again on Wednesday. After they take her blood on Wednesday, we will wait for the results and on Feb 6th I will call the doctor to find out if anything shows up on the blood test. I really can't imagine anything coming up but we shall see. After that it will be back to the ENT to see what the next steps are in helping Sofia to hear better.

What a beautiful day!

Maybe my bronchitis and truck accident was just a wonderful excuse to not run in the freezing temperatures in Prague. I went for a short run on Saturday with a slightly tight chest but all in all it felt pretty good. Today was my first run of distance (8 miles) since December and it was just beautiful! The temperature was about 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) and the sun was shining and the sky was blue. I'm taking the sunny blue sky as a sign that my 2009 is only going up from here!

English - British - Czechglish

The kids are exposed to many different languages here which is great. We try to maintian a certain level of American English but have also accepted some British English into our home. Things like sweetie instead of candy has become standard. Today, however, Sofia said, "This is a great rubber." Before I burst out in adolescent humor I had to correct her and say, "yes, but we call it an eraser." She responded with, "yes, but some people call it a rubber." I had to agree with her that some people do call it a rubber but reiterated that we call it an eraser. (For those of you who don't know, in American English slang a rubber is a condom.) So there are some British English words we can accept and some we prefer not to use.
Another thing we also here is Czechglish, a blend of English and Czech. Sofia loves going to Czech school and learning Czech. When she is at Czech school her teacher calls her Sofinku and her teacher calls Ali, Alinku. This is normal in Czech. Sofia has taken those nicknames and applied them in English. Daddy has become Dadinku and her stuffed animal horse has become horsinku. It is funny and interesting how she is combining the two languages. It is hard to know how much Czech Sofia knows since she won't speak it with me very often but I know she must understand quite a bit since when I pick her up from Czech class I never hear a word of English being spoken. I don't push her to speak Czech and I am just enjoying hearing her Czechglish. I love the mutlicultural language she is developing... rubbers, sweeties, dadinku, horsinku and all.

Things go right....almost

Today Jason took the girls to school and I headed off to the foreign police to get my visa renewed. This is a relatively easy process for us since Jason's company takes care of a lot of the leg work. I showed up and met a lady who took me inside where I signed a few forms and then I was done. It was nice and easy.



I left there and decided I was going to get myself a strudel. A few years back I had watched a show that was done in Prague and during the show the woman bought a strudel that was suppose to be delicious. I had asked Jason to go there on his many trips to Prague but he never did. He always said it was too far out of the way. Well, after hounding him, we moved here and I realized he was right and after two years I had never made it over to get a strudel. Today was my day though and I had time so I decided to find the strudel shop. It was just a couple blocks away from the foreign police. It is really just a window that you step up to and buy your fresh strudel. I bought 2 apple strudels but on second thought I should have bought one apple and one cheese but that means I will just have to go back! He handed me the strudel which was about 10" long and it was still warm! I was very excited. I bit into it and there was real apple chunks not just apple mush. It was delicious! It was cheap too at only 42Kc ($2.20USD). I will have to make another trip over there soon to buy a cheese strudel. Now that I know exactly where it is, it isn't that far out of the way.

After purchasing my strudel I headed over to the ambulance company offices (the ambulance that took me to the hospital after the truck accident) to give them my insurance card. They apparently shouldn't haven't given me a bill but should have accepted my insurance card on the spot. But, it was easy enough to head to their offices. The lady at reception walked me down to the right person to speak with and he copied my insurance card, took the bill and I was done.

This is where the "almost" comes in....As I was walking back to the metro to give Jason a strudel I got a call from the kids school. Ali is sick. I had to go pick her up from school. (Jason will have to eat his strudel later.) I brought Ali home and let her watch movies. I was hoping she would fall asleep and so I was rubbing her head. Just as her eyes were closing and she appeared to dose off, the throw up came flying out of her mouth! On her, on me and on the couch. So, like I said, things are going right...almost! Let's hope we can contain Ali's illness to just one child and it doesn't spread throughout our house.

Back to normal...

Life in 2009 has been interesting to say the least but it finally appears to be returning to a normal rhythm. I still have bronchitis and a couple sore spots from getting hit by the truck but I have resumed most of my daily activities. I hope to resume running by Friday....that is my time limit for bronchitis so hopefully my body will cooperate! :)
I finally gave Watson a bath and a haircut which he desperately needed. We had kept putting it off since the groomer that we have used here never listens to what we want so we needed to find a new one. Finding a new groomer is difficult so Watson was looking pretty gray and shaggy. I couldn't take it anymore so I decided to groom him myself. I have to say, I did a pretty good job and I saved us $50. Now that I know I can do it maybe Watson will get bathed more frequently!
Yesterday I went shopping for ice skates. Ice Skates are another one of those things we didn't bring with us from the States that we should have brought. Oh well, I am actually happy that I was forced to buy new skates here b/c the skates I bought are so much nicer that my old skates. I'm looking forward to skating with some friends while the kids are in school. I also bought the same skates for Sofia so hopefully we can get a lot of skating in on the weekends. The nice thing about the skates I bought is that they are adjustable for size so they should fit Sofia for the next couple years. Ali's feet are too small and I can't find any skates that fit her so we will have to continue to rent skates for her.
Today I'm off to the insurance company to get reimbursed for prescriptions but also to find out how I'm suppose to pay the ambulance company since it is the first time we have received a bill for anything medical. The medic told us the insurance will pay it but I don't know if that means we pay it and the insurance reimburses us or if the insurance company will pay it directly. It is always interesting to go to the insurance office.

*Update - I went to insurance company and turns out the ambulance should have just taken my insurance info and not given me an invoice. I will head to the ambulance office next week. Another adventure!

Hit by Truck

Did you ever feel like you have been hit by a truck? Well, I now know what that feels like. Don't worry, I am fine. I just have some minor bumps and bruises. I was in town today and I was meeting Jason in front of a bank on a main shopping street. I was standing on the SIDEWALK looking in the direction from which Jason would come when from behind I was hit and thrown to the ground. I was stunned and looked back to see what the heck had hit me and saw a big delivery truck. I had a moment of panic when I thought the truck was moving but it stopped. I then just was in disbelief. I was doing a mental check of all body parts and a couple guys were surrounding me asking me if i was ok. Of course they were speaking to me in czech but apparently being hit by a truck knocks all ability to speak another language out of my brain. It was all I could do to say "I don't speak Czech" in English. Fortunately one of the men helping me spoke English and stayed with me until Jason arrived. We went in the ambulance to the hospital for exrays of my head and knee. Everything is fine and I'm now home. I'm sure advil will be my friend tomorrow but I am just grateful it wasn't worse than it was. I will now be very vigilant even on sidewalks. After starting 2009 with bronchitis and being hit by a truck I'm thinking the rest of the year should be looking up!

Bronchitis

Not much is going on here. The kids started back to school on Monday and are having a great time. I, on the other hand, am not having a great time. I started with a fever and cough over the weekend and has changed to bronchitis by today. It isn't fun and I haven't had much sleep. The upside is that I don't have to entertain the kids all day while I am sick. Jason pretty much does everything in the mornings and our friends have brought the kids home for me (accept yesterday when I thought I was better so I picked them up myself). The girls have been very good to leave me alone and have just played nicely together. Somehow they have finally reached the age that they understand mommy really doesn't feel well. I am looking forward to getting better with antibiotics so that we can start enjoying winter (and just so I don't feel so bad!).

Movie & Fireworks

Today we met up with some friends to see Madagascar 2. It was the first times the girls have ever been to a movie theater to see a movie. They were excited to go to the movie and to go to the movie with their friends, Vivi & Michelle. I decided to make it a full movie experience for them and bought them popcorn and a soda. They have had popcorn before but have never had there own soda. There have been times when I might have given them a sip of my soda so this was a big deal. I got them Fanta (which is what orange soda is called here) because Sofia has been asking for Fanta for a while since her friend Anna apparently loves Fanta. The girls did great in the movie and we only had to go to the potty once which wasn't surprising given the soda drinking that was happening. They were very sad to leave the theater but perked up when we told them we were going to see fireworks. On January 1st Prague puts on a huge firworks display from Letna Park so you can see the fireworks from all over the city. We hopped on a tram after the movie to get to a good viewing location and we were going to meet up with friends at the determined location. Our plans changed when our tram ended up taking a detour b/c of the fireworks. We were a little disspointed at first but then realized our good fortune. Our tram was empty (except for 2 other people) and heated and stopped in the middle of one of the bridges crossing the vlatva for a PERFECT viewing location. We couldn't have asked for better luck. The kids loved seeing their first fireworks display and we didn't have to worry about them being cold. Once the fireworks were over the tram continued on its way and we hopped off at the metro and came home. It all worked out great.

Happy New Year!

Usually Jason and I ring in the New Year at home enjoying Chinese food and going to bed before midnight but this year we decided to go to a friend's house. The girls don't have any concept of New Year's Eve but they were happy to have their babysitter here. We headed to the edge of Prague to our friend's house to celebrate. Luckily we were able to borrow a friend's car for the night otherwise we would have needed to take a taxi. We arrived at our friends house and had fun talking to our friends and meeting new people. There was even some major fireworks going off in their neighborhood so we stood outside for a little bit to watch. It is another difference between the States and Czech. In the States it is illegal in most states to buy fireworks but even in states that you can buy them you can't buy the huge colorful fireworks that you see on the 4th of July. Here you can buy those fireworks easily and legally. So, we enjoyed seeing the fireworks and then, being freezing cold, we went back inside. We watched the Czech tv station to see the happenings on Wenceslas Square and to watch the countdown to 2009. After watching that and ringing in the New Year we changed the channel and watch New Year's in London. It is strange to see the countdown twice. It was a fun night and I'm looking forward to 2009. Happy New Year everyone!!