Dancing in the Cold

Blog About Fall 2020

The girls danced Friday night in the studio, and on the following day, and an exceptionally COLD day, the girls were scheduled to perform on an outside stage...in very little thin clothing (but at least they could take their masks off).

I was so proud of these girls. I definitely wouldn't have been tough enough to dance in the cold. They also had a fountain spraying in the small pond behind the stage, and the wind would blow sprinkles of ice water on the girls as they danced! 

Karis on the left

Keira on the left

Karis on the far right

A sweet coffee shop nearby provided hot chocolate for the ballerinas

 

New Wonderings

We awoke early before the town started moving.

 

We tried a new place for breakfast that Doug discovered that served melted chocolate in a cup!  It was so rich and amazing

Then we headed over to a Christmas market that Doug, Kylie, and Karis found the day before. 

It was set up in front of the cathedral that's pictured below. We went inside the church and found all the walls and columns painted BY HAND in intricate design!

And we decided to take one to be like others we have seen in some of the places we have lived.

My first ever successful picture with all 6 of us.

So, we did it again.

Czech National Museum behind us and Wenceslas Square in front of us.

These Christmas decorations reminded me of my hometown in Texas. I could see some creative person there designing these for their front yard.

Our Airbnb was near the famous Prague Astronomical Clock, so we stopped and took pictures when there weren't crowds around it (which was hardly ever).

Cold nights wondering around the markets never seemed to get old.

Candy from a Stranger

The people here love Keira.

She is always getting her cheeks pinched or kissed.

People ask if they can take a picture with her or of her.
(For example, I have no idea who this lady is)

She gets free fruit at the fruit stand, etc.

They love her.


Story:

Most Saturdays, we have lunch at a sandwich shop near the girls' dance studio.

Kylie co-teaches Keira's class on Saturday mornings, and when it's over, we all meet for lunch, and wait the one and a half hours until the big girls' class starts.  When we were taking taxis (we're not anymore - more on that at another time), it was too expensive to go back and forth to the house.

A certain delivery driver for the sandwich shop took a liking to Keira, and he would just walk over to the grocery store two doors down and buy her chocolate.

He never spoke a word to us or her.  He just went, bought chocolate, set it in front of her, and walked away.  She always said, "Thank you," in the language, but nothing else to egg him on.

After a collection had amassed over a month, I took a picture for you.

We're talking good stuff (as you can see, Santa's head had already been eaten).

We don't ever think about eating it, so it just collects.

When Ramazan started, our sandwich shop closed down during daylight hours, so we haven't been there since the end of May.  I'll let you know what happens in September when dance classes start again, but for now, I think I'm going to go hunt down a truffle.

Celebrating Outward

On Christmas Eve, we took cookies and homemade hot chocolate mix (with instructions written in their language) to all the neighbors we have relationships with.

In our limited language, we told them we were celebrating the birthday of Jesus the Messiah, and we wanted to share something with them.

 

Part of that sharing, included a notecard with Luke 2:10-11 written on it.

I'm so grateful for Kylie and Karis for doing all of those for me.

 

One bonus was that I had two dishes to return to a lady as well, so I stacked them inside each other, filled them up with "puppy chow," fudge, and cookies, and called it done.

During the last week of school, during exams, the kids also took their teachers homemade hot chocolate mix in zip lock bags they had decorated.  The ones below must have been for the neighbors though, because they are not written in English.

I'm "real" smart, huh?

And these are the instructions telling them how to mix it with hot water or add it to a cup of coffee.

I must say that when I moved here, I thought I would NEVER learn the alphabet or how to read, but I'm surprising myself every day.  I'm not as good as my kids, but I can read/recognize 90% of the alphabet now.

Older minds can still do a few things....

Every Good Party Starts with Chocolate

You can tell when something big is about to happen because people usually start to prepare for it.

Think about the "preparation" for Christmas that starts in November.

Think of all the charcoal, fireworks, burgers, and chips that get purchased before the 4th of July.

The same thing happens here.


Kylie gets out her shiny shoes.

The mall hangs hundreds of balloons.

This is a bad picture, but I was trying to show you the truck in front of us is full of sheep headed to slaughter.  (see the wool in the sun?)

People all over town, washed their carpets and hung them out to dry.

This was the second day of carpets hung over our wall.  Our neighbors used our wall, knowing we wouldn't be doing any "preparations."

And don't pay any attention to our broken air conditioner on the porch, please.

My neighbor also told me that she and her husband were fasting nine days before the holiday.

So, what was my family doing to prepare?

Buying chocolate (and praying).

Just like the last holiday, Doug got outside early with his bowl of chocolate and greeted all the men on the street who were walking around getting...chocolate.

This is the neighbor boy.  Check out his outfit!!

See what this gentleman is doing?  He has his hand to his head, and he is saying "Head Eyes" in his language.  That is how you say "thank you" and show respect.



This is our landlord's brother.  If I had to pick a favorite on the street, it would be him.

And Doug is still handing out chocolate.

One time, a huge group of men came by and emptied his bowl so he had to come in for a refill.

This time of the day, women are not outside, so I was sneaking pictures from the second floor window.

Shhh!  Don't tell anyone.

This man is also saying "Head Eyes," but he's putting his hand to his heart, which is acceptable as well.

The boys are all in their new clothes

But let's not leave the girls out.

Here they are.  New clothes.  Purses.  Hair down.  Ready to go.

But, where are they going?

Probably to find more chocolate!