A Birthday to Remember: Last Day in Prague

Sunday was Ruth's 21st birthday, which was only important in America.  The day began with attending a Czech church where many of the students attended.  After church, the American team, plus one Czech student, Olga, went to an Italian restaurant for birthday luncheon.  The food was amazing.

Lunch table

After lunch, we went to a porcelain store.  Porcelain is something the Czechs are known for and the traditional porcelain is blue on white.  Many of us bought gifts and souvenirs there.   As we were walking to our next stop, Olga bought Ruth a sunflower for her birthday and taught her how to say sunflower in Czech:  slulnečnice.

Ruth and Olga with the sunflower.

Our team in Prague

At 5, we met up again with the Czech students and went to see the Prague Castle.

Standing with the Prague Castle behind us.

Cathedral in the Castle

After touring the castle, the group split up again, and Luice and Ruth went with the Czech students to celebrate her birthday with dinner and presents.  One of the Czech girls made Ruth a cake and they carried it all around the castle.  The Czechs also gave Ruth tons of little presents, one of them even hand-painted a tie!

Ruth and Team Tiger

The delicious cake

Ending the evening by driving in the rain around Prague while listening to By Your Side

Saturday in Prague

Saturday began with all of us piling into tiny cars (at least 6 people in each one) and driving around hairpin bends for several miles to the bus stop to Prague.  Once we arrived in the outskirts of Prague we took the metro into the city to our hostel, all the while lugging our suitcases.  Jackie had booked us 3 rooms, but the hostel was divided into two different buildings across the street from one another so Rachel, Ruth, Luice, Gill, and Jackie ended up being in one building in two different rooms, and Bob and Don were in the other building.  The building where the girls were staying had four flights of winding stairs to get to the rooms.  However, the hostel did offer free wi-fi which was really nice.  

On the hostel stairs after moving up all the suitcases. Phew!

After we had settled in we headed out to do some sightseeing. First thing we did was go to a local mall and get American food that we'd all been craving: pizza, McDonalds and Giros.  Jackie took us to a beautiful Italian-style garden out of the way of the main tourist traffic.  It was beautiful and provided gorgeous views of the city.  

In the garden

Next, we went to see the US Embassy in Prague and walked over St. Charles' Bridge which was filled with tourists, sidewalk hawkers, and live musicians. 

The Americans outside the US Embassy

On St. Charles' Bridge looking over the Vlatava River

We went to a market in the late afternoon for some souvenir shopping and then we met up with some Czech students who had been at camp with us and who lived in Prague.  Together we went to the Old Town Square to see the famous astrological clock strike six in the evening.  It is a whole ceremony and the square was filled with people.

Ruth with her students Ben and Kuba (glasses) in front of the astrological clock.

After the clock, we went to a candy making store called Viva Praha.  We were unable to get inside the church because it was closed for the evening so we went to get dinner.  After we ate, the group split up.  Ruth and Luice went with the Czech students and the rest of the team went back to the hostel.  The Czech students took Ruth and Luice on an adventure through Prague.  It was awesome.  The first stop was The Bridge of Locks.  Lovers write their names on padlocks, lock them on the bridge, and then through the key into the river.  

Our group on the Bridge of Locks

Spontaneous group shot.

When it was fully dark, we climbed a hill in a park overlooking the city and enjoyed the view of Prague all lit up.

Prague at night

Groups

Luice's English Group

Bob and Gill's English Group

Don and Jackie's English Group

Ruth's English Group aka The Tigers

English Camp 2010

Friday - Last Full Day of Camp

Friday was the last day of English classes. It was bittersweet. Some of the students were really tired so we played some games and enjoyed each other's company.

In the afternoon we went to the penzion (hostel) for a bit to get some internet time. Then Ruth went back to the camp to burn CDs (Mainly for the 'By Your Side' song but it included other Christian songs). Luice joined the Czechs for some crazy games. They included but were not limited to:

- Relay Race with Teamwork

- Tightrope walking

- Human Puzzle

- Solving Riddles

After the evening program that involved reflecting on our week we had a bonfire, 'cocktail' party and a slideshow. The bonfire included writing down your regrets and sins and throwing them into the fire. The  cocktail party included various fruit juices and snacks. For the slideshow the Czech leaders loaded all the pictures from the week and ran them for all to see. They also presented all the leaders and our team with gifts to thank us for our time. It was so sweet.

Bonfire

Mixing juices

During all this, Ruth was signing CDs. She personalized each CD. They really appreciated it and Ruth had a good time doing it.

The CD that Ruth made Maru

Tuesday Program - Ruth, Rachel and Luice

On Tuesday evening, Ruth, Luice and Rachel were in charge of the evening program. We decided to do something that didn't need translation. The theme of the evening was 'Identity'. So we decided to act out a skit to a song. We used 'By Your Side' by Tenth Avenue North. The skit involved a young girl going through hard times in life and after each crisis she gets labeled (She labels herself and others label her) things like: Unloved, Neglected, Stupid, etc. The turning point of the song is when she reaches out to 'the Jesus figure' (who's been there all along) and He comes and saves her from overwhelming hardships and helps her remove her wrong identities and replaces them with truths like Loved, Redeemed, and Beautiful.

Ruth posted the video of the skit on Facebook, see it here:


We got help from some of the Czech leaders. And the labels we used were in Czech and English.

It went really well and the Czechs really loved the song.

Home Sweet Home

We are all back at home now. Its been a long day! 7:30am Czech Time to 9pm DC Time.

Praises:
- We got to the airport (in Prague) early and realized that we forgot 2 bags at the hostel. We had enough time to get them *whew*
- We flew through security at London-Heathrow and made our 1 hour connection. And we had time to buy chocolate! (Gill was very happy about that)
- Despite some turbulence, the flight was smooth

God's been with us from beginning to end. :)

- Luice

Friends don't say goodbye

Its our last night in Prague. Our flight is tomorrow afternoon. We spent the day sightseeing, shopping and hanging out with Jackie and some of the Czech students/leaders from the camp. Many of them live in Prague and wanted to hang out with us and show us the city. That was very sweet of them and made our trip all the more special.

I (Luice) am so surprised at how attached I became to these students. 11 days and I'm going to miss them dearly.

The trip couldn't have gone so great without your prayers. Ruth and I will be updating the blog once we return to the US to include more pictures and stories.

Please pray that we have a smooth flight and that we are able to transition and adjust back to our 'normal' lives but not forget or dismiss the wonderful and amazing things that God allowed to happen during this trip.

- Luice