An American man is 'Americhan'
An American woman is 'Americhanka'
If you have more than one American woman, you have 'Americhanky'
(It isn't actually a ch, it is a c with an accent over it that sounds like 'ch' in English)
The 'a' at the end has an uh sound.
So... in Czech, American women are chunky!
For mature audiences only - the phrase for "is that a fact" in Czech is a word the Czechs have learned not to use around Americans, but I'll let you do your own research as to why.
Oh the challenges of a new language! I hate to think of what we've done to their language.
Today we went into the butcher shop only to realize we didn't have our Czech phrase book with us, and without any hope of understanding the difference between cow and chicken and whatever else, we decided to pass. We did much better buying toys and lightbulbs.
The other morning Daniel and I were asked to give a presentation about Virginia at the local gymnasium (high school) to some of the older students. Daniel helped me with several hours of research, and we put together a nice PowerPoint presentation. Daniel's 4th grade Virginia history knowledge came in very handy. At the school, (school isn't out here until the end of this week), we met with about a dozen very polite and interested high schoolers, all of whom were fairly advanced in English, and all of whom (I think) were able to understand my presentation. The best part was the question-answer period after the presentation. Topics ranged widely from "Why do you have a death penalty?" to "What do you think about Barack Obama?" to "Is it really true that in America you can own a gun?" to "What do Americans think about Europeans?" to "What do Americans think about the war in Iraq?" I enjoyed the curiosity.
None of the students had ever been to America, but one had been to Cuba. Another carryover from the communist times I suppose.
In other news, we just survived a heat wave. The past two days the temperature topped out above 82 degrees (28 C). While the Czechs found this a bit unbearable, we were glad to break out the shorts (of course the Czechs have been wearing shorts all along, even as we were in long pants and long sleeves.) Today the heat wave ended with an overcast day of rain, but we did get outside some.
Oops - I haven't gotten to the firemen yet again. I guess that will have to get bumped to next time - but I'll be meeting with them again next week in the pub (they want to show me the "life in Tachov"), so there will be plenty of opportunity.
Ok, so here is the first complaint of our trip. Tachov is surrounded on all sides by farms. The farmers have been fertilizing (pouring wet cow manure onto their fields). That's not a big deal on a nice sunny day, but today with the rain it was rather unpleasant. I suppose if that's the worst thing to complain about things must be going pretty well.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Days 3 and 4
If you can't speak Czech - Teach English!
That has been the motto of the past several days, and it appears it will be an intermittent theme throughout our stay.
Yesterday started with a somewhat uneventful shopping trip. With the help of Dana (Pastor Milan's wife) we were able to find most things on our list. I think at some point I'll devote an entire blog entry to banana-carrot-apple juice (which was enticing simply because of its color, but alas, it has lived up to its name. Teresa and I are now drinking our obligatory glass of carrot juice at every meal until we use it up.) As long as you don't smell it, it tastes 'dobre' [pronounced dobje] (meaning ok). (There's supposed to be an accent mark above the r, this blog site doesn't do accent marks.)
We also discovered a very nice bakery - yummy!
The emphasis of the past several days has been teaching English classes at the church. We are the "native speakers" for the students to converse with. On Monday was a delightful group of 7 ladies, all of whom are fairly advanced in conversational English. This evening we had a mixed group from age 15 to 56 at different skill levels. We've talked about hobbies, families, jobs, tornadoes, Virginia history, and dream vacations. Unfortunately we did not have the gumption to bring up banana-carrot-apple juice.
It looks like we will be continuing group and individual English lessons with a number of these students throughout our stay. It is a great outreach ministry for the church to bring people into its community.
Incidentally, they are looking for a native English speaker to be the new English teacher here at the Methodist church in Tachov starting in September. Let me know if you would be interested or know someone who would like to spend a semester or longer in the Czech Republic.
I think it will be a pretty low stress assignment with mainly evening group and individual classes. All that is required is good humor and a love of (or at least tolerance for) tea - which seems to be necessary to get the English flowing. That seems like a British thing if you ask me, but when they serve these wonderful fruit teas I'm willing to make it an American tradition too!
That's it for tonight. Dobrou noc (Good Night - pronounced do-broh nots)
Next time (probably in a couple of days) - "High School Students, Firemen, and why American women are 'Chunky'!"
Matthew (Pastor Milan's son) with Eric and Daniel:
Teresa the blacksmith:
Phil the archer:
Czech horses at the heritage museum (ok, so they're a little thinner here):
That has been the motto of the past several days, and it appears it will be an intermittent theme throughout our stay.
Yesterday started with a somewhat uneventful shopping trip. With the help of Dana (Pastor Milan's wife) we were able to find most things on our list. I think at some point I'll devote an entire blog entry to banana-carrot-apple juice (which was enticing simply because of its color, but alas, it has lived up to its name. Teresa and I are now drinking our obligatory glass of carrot juice at every meal until we use it up.) As long as you don't smell it, it tastes 'dobre' [pronounced dobje] (meaning ok). (There's supposed to be an accent mark above the r, this blog site doesn't do accent marks.)
We also discovered a very nice bakery - yummy!
The emphasis of the past several days has been teaching English classes at the church. We are the "native speakers" for the students to converse with. On Monday was a delightful group of 7 ladies, all of whom are fairly advanced in conversational English. This evening we had a mixed group from age 15 to 56 at different skill levels. We've talked about hobbies, families, jobs, tornadoes, Virginia history, and dream vacations. Unfortunately we did not have the gumption to bring up banana-carrot-apple juice.
It looks like we will be continuing group and individual English lessons with a number of these students throughout our stay. It is a great outreach ministry for the church to bring people into its community.
Incidentally, they are looking for a native English speaker to be the new English teacher here at the Methodist church in Tachov starting in September. Let me know if you would be interested or know someone who would like to spend a semester or longer in the Czech Republic.
I think it will be a pretty low stress assignment with mainly evening group and individual classes. All that is required is good humor and a love of (or at least tolerance for) tea - which seems to be necessary to get the English flowing. That seems like a British thing if you ask me, but when they serve these wonderful fruit teas I'm willing to make it an American tradition too!
That's it for tonight. Dobrou noc (Good Night - pronounced do-broh nots)
Next time (probably in a couple of days) - "High School Students, Firemen, and why American women are 'Chunky'!"
Matthew (Pastor Milan's son) with Eric and Daniel:
Teresa the blacksmith:
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Day 2
Today started at what felt like much too early (not sure if it is the jet lag or just my perennial inability to get up in the morning) with a 10 AM worship service. The service - all in Czech - was beautiful. They even threw in one English worship song (sung perfectly by the congregation), which we appreciated. Pastor Milan's sermon was directed mainly to the children, of which there were about 10 all sitting in the front row, as it is their last week of school this week. Milan preached passionately with stories and illustrations about not allowing sin to creep into our lives and make a home there. We only know this because of God's provision of a wonderful lady who sat behind us and translated the service for us. It became abundantly clear how little Czech we actually know.
The service was held in a small rented room on the main town square. The room (about the size of room 106 at Sterling UMC) was filled with a sellout crowd of 40+ people. In addition the facility has 2 small classrooms, a tiny kitchen, bath and chancery. They are in the process of looking for a larger space that is affordable.
We were introduced to the congregation, and had the opportunity to greet them all after the service at the potluck lunch. There are several good English speakers among them, allowing us some nice conversation. Novelties at lunch included wild mushrooms (picked in the forest) baked with egg, soup (which appears to be a staple for the Czechs), a pasta dish and a goulash stew.
After lunch we had the afternoon to ourselves, so we took our car (a cute red Fiat delivery van that was loaned to us for our entire stay by a friend of pastor Milan's) and we drove to the countryside outside of Tachov. We took a short walk in the forest called Czesky Les, which is a region near the German border. While the communists were not known for their ecological stewardship, this region was ironically preserved from commercial interests during the communist times as a buffer zone between the east and west, so it is now home to many endangered plants and animals.
Tomorrow we will attempt our first shopping trip at the grocery market. Tonight we are translating our shopping list into Czech.
Some photos from the past few days (we'll probably be a few days behind with photos as we won't have time to upload them each day):
Our airplane:
Purple wildflowers at Reykjavik, Iceland airport:
Tachov old city wall and watchtowers (700+ years old):
John Huss and Hussite War memorial: (Note the image of the cup at the top, which was the symbol of the Hussites. The Catholic church forbade taking the cup as part of communion at the time, and the Hussites desired to have communion as Jesus had instituted it.)
The service was held in a small rented room on the main town square. The room (about the size of room 106 at Sterling UMC) was filled with a sellout crowd of 40+ people. In addition the facility has 2 small classrooms, a tiny kitchen, bath and chancery. They are in the process of looking for a larger space that is affordable.
We were introduced to the congregation, and had the opportunity to greet them all after the service at the potluck lunch. There are several good English speakers among them, allowing us some nice conversation. Novelties at lunch included wild mushrooms (picked in the forest) baked with egg, soup (which appears to be a staple for the Czechs), a pasta dish and a goulash stew.
After lunch we had the afternoon to ourselves, so we took our car (a cute red Fiat delivery van that was loaned to us for our entire stay by a friend of pastor Milan's) and we drove to the countryside outside of Tachov. We took a short walk in the forest called Czesky Les, which is a region near the German border. While the communists were not known for their ecological stewardship, this region was ironically preserved from commercial interests during the communist times as a buffer zone between the east and west, so it is now home to many endangered plants and animals.
Tomorrow we will attempt our first shopping trip at the grocery market. Tonight we are translating our shopping list into Czech.
Some photos from the past few days (we'll probably be a few days behind with photos as we won't have time to upload them each day):
Our airplane:
Saturday, June 25, 2011
1st Day
This morning Pastor Milan and his son Matthew (age 10) showed us around town a little. The old part of town has a 700 year-old wall still partially intact, with several large watchtowers still in excellent condition. The town sits in a large bowl surrounded by hills. Our apartment is on one hill, the old town is near the center, and Pastor Milan's apartment sits on the opposite side. Both apartments were built during the communist era. The utilitarian communist architecture is very present in building facades throughout Tachov. Inside both apartments are nicely furnished and restored. We had a wonderful lunch with Milan and his family (wife Dana and children Matthew and Kate (14)), overlooking the town from their 4th floor apartment.
On another hillside sits a monument to John Huss, and the Hussite war. You history buffs out there will recall that John Huss was a famous Czech preacher in the 1400's who spoke out against the abuses of the Catholic church (sort of an early version of Martin Luther). At the time Prague had 30,000 inhabitants, and it is said that 10,000 came to hear him preach each Sunday. Not surprisingly, he was not liked in Rome, and he was executed. This touched off a war between the Czech Hussites and the Bavarian Catholics. A major deciding battle occurred right here in Tachov.
After lunch we went to a small regional heritage museum with old farm equipment on display. There was also a town festival going on, and one of the church members gave us a blacksmith exhibition (Daniel and Phil both made nails, and Teresa - well we're not quite sure what she made - something like a snail. Teresa calls it a swan. The blacksmith spent a lot of time laughing and saying things in Czech). Phil and Daniel both got lessons in archery (we hit the target occasionally), and we ate a langose (a Hungarian fried donut like thing with pizza sauce and cheese on it). The boys liked it.
Not a bad way to spend our 17th wedding anniversary! Thank you, Teresa for your eternal patience!
Tomorrow we will be introduced at church, followed by a church potluck meal. We've been asked to say a few words, so I will try to be good.
On another hillside sits a monument to John Huss, and the Hussite war. You history buffs out there will recall that John Huss was a famous Czech preacher in the 1400's who spoke out against the abuses of the Catholic church (sort of an early version of Martin Luther). At the time Prague had 30,000 inhabitants, and it is said that 10,000 came to hear him preach each Sunday. Not surprisingly, he was not liked in Rome, and he was executed. This touched off a war between the Czech Hussites and the Bavarian Catholics. A major deciding battle occurred right here in Tachov.
After lunch we went to a small regional heritage museum with old farm equipment on display. There was also a town festival going on, and one of the church members gave us a blacksmith exhibition (Daniel and Phil both made nails, and Teresa - well we're not quite sure what she made - something like a snail. Teresa calls it a swan. The blacksmith spent a lot of time laughing and saying things in Czech). Phil and Daniel both got lessons in archery (we hit the target occasionally), and we ate a langose (a Hungarian fried donut like thing with pizza sauce and cheese on it). The boys liked it.
Not a bad way to spend our 17th wedding anniversary! Thank you, Teresa for your eternal patience!
Tomorrow we will be introduced at church, followed by a church potluck meal. We've been asked to say a few words, so I will try to be good.
Arrived
We have arrived in the Czech Republic safe and sound after a very long trip. After a good night's sleep the boys are playing cars with Matthew, the pastor's son, and we are planning to go to Pastor Milan's house for lunch today. Tomorrow church potluck.
Regarding our travel, I just want to say a word or two about Iceland. It is an island country about the size of Kentucky with a total population of about 300,000, and a total of 1 tree. Ok, so we didn't actually see the tree, but I'm postulating that there must be one. Even from the airport it is an enchanting country - purple wildflowers line the runway as far as the eye can see. Flying in looked more like landing on the moon - lava and boulder fields right up to the ocean, with volcanic mountains and glaciers in the distance. (If they faked the moon landing, this is where they would have done it). In college I spent 3 days on Iceland once, and I must say it is truly filled with natural wonders.
Ok, next entry will be about the Czech Republic - also an enchanting country, but lots of trees.
Regarding our travel, I just want to say a word or two about Iceland. It is an island country about the size of Kentucky with a total population of about 300,000, and a total of 1 tree. Ok, so we didn't actually see the tree, but I'm postulating that there must be one. Even from the airport it is an enchanting country - purple wildflowers line the runway as far as the eye can see. Flying in looked more like landing on the moon - lava and boulder fields right up to the ocean, with volcanic mountains and glaciers in the distance. (If they faked the moon landing, this is where they would have done it). In college I spent 3 days on Iceland once, and I must say it is truly filled with natural wonders.
Ok, next entry will be about the Czech Republic - also an enchanting country, but lots of trees.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Departing
As we get ready to head for the airport, we want to share a description of the Methodist church in Tachov where we will be staying, in the words of Pastor Milan Mrázek:
My name is Milan Mrázek and I have the privilege to be a pastor in Tachov, Czech Republic.
Tachov is a small old town near the German border with a population of 12 thousand people.
It is placed in a beautiful hilly area with lots of woods. In the history it was important because a king´s road to Germany led through the town. A first note about Tachov in historical annals is from 12th century.
The Methodist church was founded here in 1993 when some people became Christians during their studies in Plzen and wanted to share the gospel with the people in the town. At the begining, it was a mission station of the Maranatha Church in Plzen and later, when the Lord called more people, an independent church was established there in 2002. Nowadays the membership is 24, and there are about 65 people coming for different activities. About 35 people meet on Sundays, mostly young families with children.
During the Communist time, Tachov was a place with a very strict regime because the border of Germany was near. It had a huge impact on the atmosphere and approach to the church. People are generally afraid and suspicious to come to a Christian service. There are Roman Catholics beside us in our town (they meet in the same numbers as we meet – 30 people) and also a small group at an Orthodox church (10 people on Sunday). So in the town with 12000 people, 75 people meet on Sunday. That is our mission target, and we know that it is a big challenge for us. We believe that Jesus died for every single person in Tachov and so we try to share the gospel with them. We understand that we need to work with children and young people and God has blessed this ministry a lot. We do a children´s club, Sunday School and club for mothers and children. Children like to come and mostly they come from non-Christian families. We are blessed to have a nice youth group with 12 active members.
Some of them attend the Bible study – Disciple.
We meet in rented rooms of the Town Hall. It is located in the centre of the town at the main
square. Since January 2009, we have hosted Ali from England. She teaches English here as an outreach program. People in the Czech Republic like to study English, and we can use it for building relationships and then for inviting them to our services or other activities.
We have approximately 14 students, and they are non-church goers.Two years ago we did our first Vacation Bible School in the summer with assistance of a team from our partner district Johnson City, and it has become very popular. This July, we are going to do VBS as well
and we are looking forward to it.
We hope that God will bless us and enable us to be the light and salt for our town despite the Communist influence in the past. We can see the spiritual thirst and hunger around us. Our responsibility is to show the way to the well.
My name is Milan Mrázek and I have the privilege to be a pastor in Tachov, Czech Republic.
Tachov is a small old town near the German border with a population of 12 thousand people.
It is placed in a beautiful hilly area with lots of woods. In the history it was important because a king´s road to Germany led through the town. A first note about Tachov in historical annals is from 12th century.
The Methodist church was founded here in 1993 when some people became Christians during their studies in Plzen and wanted to share the gospel with the people in the town. At the begining, it was a mission station of the Maranatha Church in Plzen and later, when the Lord called more people, an independent church was established there in 2002. Nowadays the membership is 24, and there are about 65 people coming for different activities. About 35 people meet on Sundays, mostly young families with children.
During the Communist time, Tachov was a place with a very strict regime because the border of Germany was near. It had a huge impact on the atmosphere and approach to the church. People are generally afraid and suspicious to come to a Christian service. There are Roman Catholics beside us in our town (they meet in the same numbers as we meet – 30 people) and also a small group at an Orthodox church (10 people on Sunday). So in the town with 12000 people, 75 people meet on Sunday. That is our mission target, and we know that it is a big challenge for us. We believe that Jesus died for every single person in Tachov and so we try to share the gospel with them. We understand that we need to work with children and young people and God has blessed this ministry a lot. We do a children´s club, Sunday School and club for mothers and children. Children like to come and mostly they come from non-Christian families. We are blessed to have a nice youth group with 12 active members.
Some of them attend the Bible study – Disciple.
We meet in rented rooms of the Town Hall. It is located in the centre of the town at the mainsquare. Since January 2009, we have hosted Ali from England. She teaches English here as an outreach program. People in the Czech Republic like to study English, and we can use it for building relationships and then for inviting them to our services or other activities.
We have approximately 14 students, and they are non-church goers.
and we are looking forward to it.
We hope that God will bless us and enable us to be the light and salt for our town despite the Communist influence in the past. We can see the spiritual thirst and hunger around us. Our responsibility is to show the way to the well.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Preparing to depart
As we prepare for our departure, we have set up this blog site to share our experiences while in the Czech Republic. Watch this site for details about our travels and our experiences.
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