Days 46-49

Royal Rangers camp starts next Friday, so a camp needed to be built.  Unfortunately all those with experience were not available.  But many hands came together to build a rustic tent camp that the kids will use.  The group of about 25 adults, youth, and children built five large teepees, a large mess tent, and dug several latrines in a large field in the woods west of Tachov.  Each teepee will sleep six people.  A total of about 25 boys and girls (ages 6-12) are expected for the camp.  Some finishing touches need to be added during the week.

Phil spent the morning on Saturday helping to build the teepees, before heading back to Tachov to meet up with his cousins Daniel and Joachim and Daniel's girlfriend, Anna, who came for a weekend visit from Germany.  We spent the afternoon taking in another beautiful medieval castle, Hrad Svihov, which is a moated castle that has appeared in numerous movies.

Each castle, palace, or just about anything else we have visited has been eloquently described by the tour guide as having been "given to" or "transferred to" the Czech government in 1945 (as in "taken by the communists!").  So this made us curious, because from conversations we have had it appeared that many people continued to own their own homes during that time.  Did the state own everything or did they only take rich people's property?  Well, the answer of course is a bit complex.  If you owned a small home, you were likely to be able to keep ownership of it, unless you fell into the bad graces of the party.  If you owned a larger house or estate that could be subdivided into several smaller apartments, it was likely taken away from you.  If you had standing in the proletariat (communist party), the rules might be a bit looser in your favor.  In short, if you owned a castle, you pretty much were guaranteed to lose it.  If you owned a small country home that was of little interest to the party, you most likely kept ownership of it.

We returned to Tachov in time to watch FC Tachov play against FK Tabor in Tachov's first home game in the new football (soccer) season.  Tabor is south of Prague, very near to where we had youth camp in July.  Our friend, Lubos the fireman, is the right defender for Tachov.  And we might add, he played extremely well.  During the game the ball got kicked into the stands by one of the hunky football players, and Teresa caught it.  She had to give the ball back, but she hasn't washed her hands since!  Though both teams had some good chances, and Lubos himself almost scored, the match ended in a 0-0 tie.  It was beautiful weather for the game (it had rained earlier in the day, so we were pretty certain it would not rain again - it rains only once each day here it seems).

This morning started with worship at church - a full house was assembled with not an empty seat to be had in the small sanctuary.  While our last Sunday in Tachov will be next Sunday, the church gave us an official send-off this morning because next Sunday Pastor Milan and many of the church members will be away at the Royal Rangers camp.  We were touched by the heartfelt appreciation that was expressed.  Following church we enjoyed a delicious lunch invitation at the home of Vladimir and Helena, two church members who have translated for us often.  Our boys enjoyed playing with their children, while we had a chance to get aquainted and to talk more about Tachov, Czech history and politics, and of course the world economy and a little about American government as well.  Great people, great food, and interesting conversations (pretty emblematic of our experience here).

Some photos:

Phil with his great aunt (Tante) Trudel on her 91st birthday.

 Daniel on his 10th birthday.

FC Tachov in blue playing in the city stadium against Tabor in red.



Teresa, Phil, Eric, Joachim, Daniel and Anna enjoying the match.  Our Daniel was the photographer.

Svihov Castle.

 Building a teepee. It takes 11 large poles (small trees) and a huge canvas to make one teepee. 



Three of the five teepees, partially finished.  Each teepee will hold 3 double beds and a fire pit in the center.

 Building the mess tent.