#Czech2012: Part 4: Prague with the Texans

I'm the awkward middle child on our team.
We have four students, girls, ages 16-18.
And we have the 25-year-old and the 30-year-old who have the biggest bromance I've ever witnessed.
And I really love them all.

But I've had very different life experiences than all of them, and it's difficult to relate.
It's difficult just to break in, to be honest.

So, last night when Kyle announced that outsiders weren't allowed to join us on our free day, I did not have a positive reaction.
(He already knew that I was in a bad mood, which happens after travel day/two weeks of having every moment planned out for me.)

A while later, as we were walking to our meeting, he gave me the option of spending the day with people I might have connected with.
It was the best thing he could have said to me.

You see, at training in Malenovice, we met this guy Matt.
I know what you're thinking: "Yeah? This guy? Tell me about him? Is he cute?"
He's just a guy and he's closer to my age. And sometimes it's refreshing to have someone like that to talk to.
Because sometimes I forget that I need filters when talking to 16-year-olds, because I don't spend time with them.

Last night, I asked Matt what he was doing today.
We agreed to hang out.
"What's up with you and Matt?"
Nothing. We're friends.
More like acquaintances, at that point.
I suppose you could call us friends now.

I ended up tagging along with his team.
They're from San Antonio.
And they rock.

Four of us (me, Matt, Rick, and Amy) started the day at the Charles Bridge, which was super crowded.
And then we wandered in and out of shops, mostly jewelry shops that offered the exact same things.
(Matt and I both wanted rings. We didn't find them until we had twenty minutes at the very end of the day. Mine is a black band with the Lord's Prayer in Spanish, with separate gold bands on either side.)
The team was meeting up with a couple intern teams for lunch, so I awkwardly stood around before deciding to check out the shops nearby.

After lunch, all but two of us went to the Palladium, which is a giant mall.
I got my house shoes, which I'm wearing right now.
Matt tried to find some sandals, but couldn't.
At this point, we were allowed to break off from the rest of the group so I could help him find the shoe store.
It was 3:30.
And then we had two hours to wander around, looking for what we wanted to buy, and getting lost.
He made one too many jokes about us being in a relationship, so I owe him a punch, which I hope to deliver next summer at intern training.
(That is another post, after I process for a few more days.)

At 5:30, we reconnected with the team under the clock tower, after becoming so desperate for food that we grabbed some pizza.
This is apparently a famous landmark, so we're in a ton of pictures that people from all over the world will put on facebook or in their scrapbooks.
I love that about travelling in big cities.
Dinner was had at a Czech/Viking restaurant. It was super cool, and I hear the basement was like a dungeon.
I only ate some potato pancakes, which were disappointing.

We all had a few more stops to make before heading back to the hotel, and this is when we found our rings.

And now I'm sitting in the lobby of the Hotel Krystal, using the last bit of battery.

This was a day that I will not soon forget.
I made friends, who I will not likely see again on this Earth (*mumbling about various eschatalogical views*).
I came back with some very dirty feet.
A guy I had known for a very short time read me faster than anyone.
And I fell more in love with this country.

It is now time to go upstairs and repack for the last time, wait for my team to get back, and go to bed.
We leave for the airport around 6:30, our flight leaves around 9:30, we have about an hour at Charles de Gaulle, and we land in Detroit around 1:40 local time. I will be headed to Granger and my parents in 24 hours.

The past two weeks have been filled with frustration, bitterness, impatience, tough love, tears, lessons, joy, grace, heartache, and a strange feeling that my work here is not done. (Again, another post.)

Good night, friends.

#Czech2012: Part Three: Post-Camp Crash

I'm lying in my bed for the night in Kyjov, Czech Republic.

I have no English words to give, and the Czech words I know won't make sense.

The sounds of Metal Fest are drifting through the open windows.
And I use "drifting" very loosely.
It's the sound of angry vomiting.

I can't write about camp yet.
I need to process.
And remember how to write complex sentences with big words.

That's English Camp.

I had an amazing time this week and have gotten to know some people I will never forget.
I am so thankful that God called me to this country for these two weeks, and possibly for three months next summer.
(Yeah, you read that correctly. We'll see.)

I'll write when we get to Prague on Monday.

Good night.
Dobrou s kobrou.
(That's my favorite Czech phrase. Translate it and be confused.)

#Czech2012: Part Two: Training.

We landed in Prague less than 24 hours after leaving Granger, but it felt like it had been about a week.
We were completely ready for bed.
Unfortunately, we didn't have that option.

We landed around 6:30 and were ready to leave the airport by 7. However, a misunderstanding/miscommunication led to about half an hour of waiting for our ride, who was waiting for us a hundred feet away.
Note to future travelers: When talking about which terminal you will meet in, clarify whether you mean Arrivals or Departures. It will make all the difference.
When we finally met up with our driver, we loaded into a van and started the last leg of the first part of our journey.
I couldn't tell you how long it actually took, because I kept falling asleep.
I can tell you that we stopped twice: once for gas and once at a Tesco.

I love Tesco stores. This once was like a Walmart Supercenter. I was in heaven.
We really just needed some snacks, and it could have been a quick trip, but we wandered the aisles for at least 20 minutes.
I found Fruit and Fibre cereal, which I think I'll eat for breakfast tomorrow. And I'll bring some home for the days I'm feeling especially nostalgic.
(Fruit and Fibre is a cereal I had for breakfast in England on the one day I didn't eat Crunchy Nut. It is delicious.)

We finally arrived at the hotel at 1am. Our intern team (except Melanie) and Czech team stayed up to welcome us and give us our keys. They were nice enough, but I think they were very much ready for bed.

I'm sitting in our room right now. The five of us girls are together, and the guys are sharing with four others.
I'm writing without internet, because the connection only works in the public areas downstairs.
I think everyone else is down playing volleyball. I'll join them when I'm done here, providing it doesn't start raining again.

Training is going well, I suppose. I'm feeling the effects of jet lag combined with a lack of alone time, so it's difficult to judge how effectively I'm learning. But relationships within our team seem to be strengthening, and we're getting to know the others on our team.

We came into this trip thinking that we would be in Zabreh for camp. Not true. I don't remember what the village is called.
We thought that our team would be responsible for teaching lessons to large classes. Not true. We'll each team up with an intern as an assistant teacher. I think one of us will be a lead teacher.
I think those are the only major curve balls, but we can be flexible and we have plenty of time to prepare.
God is good and He is faithful. He has called us to this place and He will give us strength.

Training continues through noon tomorrow, and then we either climb into a van or hop on a train to camp.
Please be praying for safety as we travel, for peace and wisdom as we prepare for camp, and for sustained energy through the next few days.

I'm not sure what the internet situation will be at camp, but it sounds like it's not a very modern city.
I don't know that I'll have much more to post later tonight or tomorrow, so this could be my last update until camp is over.
But you can bet on me journaling and sharing portions of those rambling thoughts.

Love from somewhere in Moravia.
(Malenovice, maybe? Which looked like Malevolence the first time I saw it. Hotel Malenovice. Read that incorrectly and it's a little frightening.)

#Czech2012: Part One: Amsterdam

So, this will be quick, because I only have an hour free.

I'm currently sitting in Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Our flight from Detroit was uneventful, other than the fact that we got here. Security was a breeze, we were there in plenty of time, and I suppose our seats on the plane were as comfortable as coach can be.

Not really much to say, I guess. We have a few more hours before our flight to Prague. I'm hoping for a window seat. I think we might have the option to choose our seats when we board. That would be a great thing.

I hope to write later tonight from Prague.

This one time, I missed a phone call.

I was loading up the car on Tuesday to move home.
I had just texted my dad (it was his birthday), set down the phone, and carried a load up to the garage.

When I came back down I saw that I had missed a call from Janelle, RD of Tuckey Hall, Director of Service Learning, and my mentor and friend for the past two years.
I listened to her voicemail, and she said that she had a question for me.
Because I was trying to get on the road, I had to wait to call her back.
When we finally connected, she said that the RAs on third floor Shupe didn't have roommates yet.
Stephanie and I were without additional roommates, so we'd probably end up thrown into a house in Perimeter with people we didn't know.
That didn't sound very appealing.
The Residence Staff thought we might be interested in splitting up to fill the half-empty rooms in Shupe.

The thing is, living in Shupe has never sounded appealing, either.
It isn't air conditioned, it's full of freshmen, it's full of freshman GIRLS, the kitchen space is limited, there's no elevator, it's old, there have been mice and a variety of bugs, blah blah blah.
And then there's the fact that Shupe Shopping was taken pretty seriously last year.

I'm pretty sure Janelle knows this.
But there we were, on the phone, talking about the possibility of me spending my senior year of college in the freshman dorm I had been able to avoid for three years.

And I was open to the idea.

But I needed to talk to Stephanie, and I wasn't sure she'd feel the same way.

I texted her when I got home, and within a few minutes we were pretty sure that our plans to be roommates were over and we were going to embark on this adventure.
The decision became official a few hours ago, and I'm guessing our housing assignments that are online will change in a few days.

Here's why I'm pumped about this:
1. I will finally get the "Shupe Experience," so I'll have some idea of what people are talking about. But I'll be older, and more wise in the ways of college life.
2. I have been looking for a ministry opportunity since I decided/realized that it was time to leave Grace Church. How convenient is it that my neighbors will likely be searching, hurting, in need of prayer/advice/a shoulder to cry on at some point during the year? I suppose "convenient" isn't really the word to use when I know that God is working.
3. I will be forced to simplify my life to live in a dorm again, something my mother has been wanting me to do for as long as I can remember.
4. I need to exercise faith more often. I have it, and I talk about it often, but it doesn't usually manifest like this. So, here's me having a little--or a lot of--faith.

Here's what I think this will mean for my life:
1. The "Life at Bethel" tag will make a comeback.
2. Stephanie and I will be producing a vlog.
3. My interaction with males is going to increase, but my interaction with males my age will take a hit. I'm not digging this part.
4. I'm going to learn about my future and what God made me for.
5. It's going to be a wild, fun, stressful adventure of a senior year of college.

(Katie and Becca, if this is news to you, surprise! But I'm hoping you were consulted, just in case you hate us and are horrified at the thought of living with us.)