Chisinau Apartment

Kristin and Anna are away at a retreat that's put on by Campus Crusade this weekend.  So Shelby and are missing them with a mostly empty apartment.  This morning (Saturday) we cleaned and grocery shopped for the next week. The afternoon was nice and lazy, but tonight we'll go out to the park and see if we can get people to talk to us, along with doing some planning for next week.

Tomorrow (Sunday) evening, after Anna and Kristin get back, we'll go to a homegroup and share a word and some testimonies.  It should be a good time to meet people and hopefully, we'll be a blessing to the Christians here!

Now, a short video of the apartment we live in here.  It's huge and beautiful and we love it!

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Hlas (The Voice)

On Monday, the team went to visit a school in Prague.  We went to give a presentation in Wales, and to help the students practice English.  It reminded me strongly of the time when four native German speakers came to my German class when I was 15.  We sat and stared at them and spoke as little as possible.  I'm glad I'm not in junior high or high school any more.

After visiting the classes, we attended an English club at the same school.  One of the students that we had met earlier came running in, and said that they had two free tickets to a singing competition, and did any of us want to come? I said yes and so did Kristin.

So that evening, armed with small Czech phrase book, Kristin and I caught the metro to meet Misha and her family.  It turned out to be our best evening in Prague!  We had so much fun with Misha and her family, trying to say things in Czech and English, and making each other laugh because we had no idea what was being said!

The competition was superb as well, rather like American Idol or X-Factor.  I have now been on national television in two countries.  That's just weird.  In the song clip, we're standing up on the right-hand side in some of the frames.  It was fun being a teenage fan-girl for one night!

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Being a tourist in Prague

I hate it and I love it, being a tourist, that is.  When I'm not being a tourist, I love that I actually get to know people in the place that I am, that I know the real city (in this case) rather than just its pretty facade.  But I miss seeing the famous things that tourists get to see.  When I am being a tourist, I love walking around the beautiful buildings and looking at art in museums.  I love the luxury of basking in the sunshine and eating ice cream from expensive stalls, and buying tatty tourist trinkets.  But I hate looking like a tourist and not fitting in with the locals. I also strongly dislike being in a group with other tourists, because as soon as we start talking to each other, all the local people think, "Ah, Americans," and roll their eyes.

I wonder if I could become a ninja tourists and silently blend in with the locals while still enjoying the expensive ice cream...

And now, for your own benefit: Prague.

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Our apartment in Prague

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A short tour of our apartment in Prague, the evening the we were packing, cleaning, and getting ready to go to Chisinau.

Sitting in the park

After a day of contacting people about ministries that we could be involved in, we're all in Stefan cel Mare park, sitting on a bench and enjoying the pleasant evening. Most of the other benches are full with families or couples, just sitting around and talking.

This is one of the things I love about Chisinau-the park comes alive in the evening!