So… I’ve been home for a couple of days (read: I started this a couple of days after the trip and have just finished it) now and still in a trying-to-process it all stage. I hoped to type up a summary of it all for here but I couldn’t possibly summarise two and a half packed weeks into a blog post (even one of my ridiculously long ones).
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I’ll try and sum up a few things.
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English Class:
Leaving Saintfield the pencilled plan was for me to be teaching and Kristina to be my helper. However, when we arrived in Malenovice we got to know other members of the team – the guys from Seattle who had all done English camps before (some a double figure of camps!). There was Jarrod, a guy from Seattle who is married to Katcha (another team member) who is from the Czech Republic originally and taught English there for a number of years. There was also Whitney, Jenelle and Andrew.
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So, we had seven teachers from our team and at least three from the Seattle crowd. To stop class sizes being tiny the teaching teams were jiggled around a little. I was put with Jarrod and my translator was Katcha – so, someone who had done English camps before was “my helper” and an ex-English teacher was my translator! (Not only that but I later discovered one of my students was studying English at university.) It was a little intimidating at first to be working with Jarrod and Katcha (and I told them I felt that) but they were absolutely amazing. It was so good to have such encouraging teaching partners and God was definitely there in all of that (of course!).
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There were four students in our class: Misha (who had not been to any camps before and is studying molecular biology (I think)), Eva (who has been to camps before, had her name mis-pronounced like Aoife until I managed to pronounce it correctly and was right there in my battles against Jarrod over what “English” was – Oxford English all the way!), Teresa (I think she studies English and was also in my room) and Pavel (an English camp veteran who was called Paul (the English version of his name) until I could pronounce the Czech version!).
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The class was amazing – we had fun together and, despite me worrying I didn’t teach them anything I was able to make a list of 38 words or idioms that they had learnt in the first five lessons (I compiled the list before the last lesson where Jarrod was taught what a joiner was etc). They learnt things like xenophobe, spring chicken, on the couch, ignoramus, fit as a fiddle, on cloud nine, etc etc. I found I overplanned quite a lot for each lesson but it is far better to find yourself overplanned than underplanned – and I can always use unused ideas next year.
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Hike Day:
This just deserves a mention. One day of camp is always set aside to go on a hike so only half a lesson is taught that day. Because it was so hot (I think the hottest day was 38 degrees C) they decided not to do Lysa Hora, the big mountain of the region and the one that was pretty much just behind the hotel. No, instead we’ll do another mountain at the other side of the valley. So, off we went and managed to get to where the restaurant was halfway up the mountain. Some people (read: the crazy Czechs) decided to go on up to the top of the mountain but because not everyone wanted to do that we were going to divide into two groups. I decided to go on up to the top – I didn’t want to say I went to the Czech Republic and climbed half a mountain (I am the sort of person who finishes whatever she starts) – besides, my back wasn’t feeling sore and someone said it was 2km to the top and 2 back down again. That’s, what? At most two hours of walking (taking into account climbing a little while walking).
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So, off we set. Now, I know the Irish are known for having a weird sense of time in so far as “I’ll be there in ten minutes” is never ten minutes. After this trip I’m inclined to think the same is true for Czech kilometres. Because it wasn’t a 4km round trip. No, it was 4km there and 4km back… Well, we discovered that a little too late to back out (in fact, I don’t think I thought about it until we were at the top) so we kept going. We did get to the top and took the obligatory photo and then we were heading back down the mountain.
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But, as Paul pointed out in his talk later on, in Ireland if you go up a mountain you stop at the top, have a wee break and then go back down – the way you went up! But not in the Czech Republic. But someone who was leading had a map so that was ok. Wasn’t it?
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Well, no. Because I think we got a little lost. We started heading along the road – Malenovice was a dot in the distance at the other side of the valley. It was so hot parts of the road had melted! It was getting close to dinner time and we had over an hour left to walk to get back – at this point Michael (head of camp) had left and ran on to get his car so he could lift people up off the roads and take them back to Malenovice in time for dinner.
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I was in the first car load of people he took back and we expected to get back to Malenovice to see the people who had decided not to go to the top of the mountain. They should have been back hours ago but were nowhere to be seen!
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So those of us who were there sat down and had their dinner while we waited. We then heard that the people on the shorter walk also had gotten lost. They were still walking and were slowly being lifted in cars back to camp.
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I think, in the end, the group I was on walked 17 miles and the other group walked 13. To think that if we’d climbed Lysa Hora we’d have been up and down again in less than four hours - on the last night some people (read: the crazy Czechs) left camp and climbed Lysa Hora to watch the sunrise and came back down again.
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Last Night:
The last night of camp is typically an all-nighter. We had a thing called “Tea Room” again - we had had one one evening earlier in the week in which every class had to do something. My class recorded a parody of clips we watched every night during the evening talks - and it rocked! Definitely the best group. After the last night’s tea room we started watching movies - first we watch Bruce Almighty. During this movie Rose fell asleep so I decided to go upstairs and bring down her duvet and my duvet.
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As I was coming down the lift with two duvets Rose, unbeknownst to me, was climbing up the stairs to go to bed. After discovering that I went up to get her. A storm had started outside - there was lots of sheet lightening going around the valley - at Malenovice we were positioned on a hill and there were hills/mountains in a circle all the way around the valley. Rose and I went to go outside to watch the storm - joining those already sitting out there.
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As we sat and watched, under our duvets, I’ll never forget the feeling of sitting under the stars as I watched the magnificent lightning come closer and closer and closer to us. I also remember looking round at all the other eejits sitting out there with us and being very aware of the love that we all shared and just being hit, at that moment, of all the experiences of one of the most life changing weeks of my life.
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Eventually, it started to spit and we couldn’t get the duvets wet. After leaving them inside and just standing out in the rain for a while we went up to the third floor to watch from one of the big windows.
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I left the storm (after a couple of hours had flew by as we just sat or stood in awe) and went to “write on the doors” of those I had gotten to know over camp. On each dorm room door we had made “envelopes” for each individual - basically, an A3 sheet with a couple of inches of paper folded up again and stuck to make a pouch. It was a really cool idea and my envelope is something I really treasure from my Czech trip.
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After all that I got changed into my pjs and headed downstairs to the movie room again. By this stage the hikers had returned and I caught the end of Phone Booth. I saw the first few minutes of Mr Bean, The Movie, and promptly fell asleep (I think it was after 4am). I woke up the next morning as people started to climb over me (I’d fallen asleep in the doorway!) to get out.
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Prague:
After camp we headed back to Prague. In Prague Rose, Rachel J, Nina, Ruth, Jayne and I were staying at Maruska’s with Lenka. Maruska, as well as having an amazing name/nickname, has an amazing apartment on the top floor of her parent’s house - including an amazing old sewing machine that I fell in love with. While in Prague we went to Dejvice’s (spelling?) church service on the Sunday morning and we went to the zoo that afternoon (I think it was 70p to get into the zoo and it was a great zoo - unlike Belfast where it is £7.80 to get in to see a few miserable animals).
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On the Monday we got a tour of Prague, hosted by the lovely Irena. We saw the castle, the cathedral and got a culture lesson in the process. On Monday night we went to the cinema and saw the fifth Harry Potter movie which was good. On Tuesday we headed to a spa town which was a couple of hours away on a coach. Of course, the obligatory photos of people sleeping were taken and everyone discovered how my head rolls when I sleep. I had the most amazing hot Czech wafer while in that spa town and it was nice to see another Czech town. On Tuesday night the Seattle, Irish/English and Czech teams all got together for a chat to see what we all thought about camp and perhaps what could be improved (mine and many other people’s suggestion was that some people should learn how to read a map!).
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On Tuesday night we also stayed up late as an Irish/English team and had a debrief session. It was a really good time where we were able to process some of what we learnt and got to talk to the team about our contribution/what we saw happening in the lives of others. Then Paul went round telling each of us what he learnt about us on the trip - I think part of mine was about not being afraid to fail in life, that I shouldn’t feel that everything I do needs to be perfect.
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Wednesday was our last full day in the Czech Republic so a few of us (Rose, Nicola, Rachel J, Jayne, Becca, Paul and I) got up early (leaving the hotel at 6am) to see Charles’ Bridge without a million people (read: loud American tourists) there. It is a beautiful bridge but I think you appreciate it so much more when you can leisurely walk along it without worrying about your bag when people bump into you.
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We then had the most amazing breakfast at Bohemia Bagel - blueberry pancakes! And we spent the rest of the day walking around the city, doing some shopping and we also got a tour of the Jewish quarter by Jana, a girl from camp Sarah was staying with. We then headed back to Old Time Square where we hung out with some other people for a while in Coffee Heaven.
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That night we all went out to dinner at an amazing wee pizza place. There were lots of photos taken and goodbyes said. We then took a night-time stroll around Prague, to see the city at night.
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We left the hotel early on Thursday morning and landed in Belfast without any serious problems (the problems, for some, started as we headed through Belfast Immigration, but this is not the post for that).
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The Food:
Going to a foreign and “strange” country, one of the worries is always going to be the food you will be eating while you are there. But it was amazing! I guess we were helped by the fact where we were staying is a four star ski resort or hotel when the organisation isn’t using it. The only meal that I really couldn’t finish was the sour kraut - it was horrible! It was hard to adjust to eating so much (a soup and a main course) at lunch time but I managed.
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One night, I think it was the night after hike day, dinner (which is traditionally sweet) was fruit dumplings. In the Czech Republic they have bread dumplings and potato dumplings which are both savoury (although I prefer the potato dumplings) and then they have the sweeter fruit dumplings. I would describe fruit dumplings as a dough-y ball with a jam type substance in the middle. We were each served six. Now, they were amazing but after three I was just too full! So, in Czech tradition, I passed my plate on.
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Ondra and Maruska, two members of the Czech team, had a competition to see who could eat the most fruit dumplings. In the end, they both ate an incredible 18! I’ve no idea how they did it.
When we were at Maruska’s we also had amazing food - including what I would describe as a rhubarb meringue made in a tray bake tin. While in Prague I also tried fried cheese (fried with layers of breadcrumbs). It can be served with mayo or tartar sauce or in a bread roll. I preferred it with tartar sauce but you should definitely check it out if you ever go to the Czech Republic.
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In the Czech Republic they also have Magnums, of course, but they have double chocolate Magnums for about 50p! They are absolutely amazing and I wish we had them over here (I’ve looked but cannot find any). I should also give an honourable mention to the café chain Coffee Heaven in the Czech Republic - they serve amazing coffee and make the most amazing chocolate cake, called Boston cake, I’ve ever tasted. It is expensive in the Czech Republic but the prices compare well to any coffee shop over here.
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The Team:
The team. What can I say? I feel so amazingly privileged to have served alongside each and every member of the team. The youngest members of the team amazed me as I wondered if I could have left home for two and a half weeks to serve God in a faraway country at the age of 13. I loved the evening talks Jonny did - even if Petruska, the translator, almost needed a translator from Norn Irish into English before putting it into Czech.
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Sarah was the English gal on the team who met everyone but Jonny and Nicola (they all went to Oxford) for the first time in Prague’s arrival gate. She was absolutely amazing and had great taste in clothes - too much, actually, as I spotted her one morning in a Howies t-shirt I desperately wanted but was sold out in my size when I went to buy it. Consequently our loving relationship began as I called her the t-shirt stealer.
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I’m not going to name everyone in this blog post. They all got wee notes from me at some point.
Overall, I just felt so blessed to be on such a self-sacrificing team. My back was a bit cranky while I was there and everyone was more than helpful through that (I found out Tuesday 4th that I’ve now been discharged from my physic as I’ve been working so well on my back and she has just given me some long-term recommendations to help stop it bothering me so much in the future).
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One vital part of the team were, of course, the Bowman family. Paul and Val were absolutely amazing leaders - they were always there for us if we needed to talk and were encouraging as we all had our off-days. Even Erin and Talitha were amazing - at 4 and almost 2 they were so well behaved and were great at cheering up the team. One memory Talitha has left me with is when I was holding her, Jonny, in true Jonny style, was teasing her with a “I’m going to get you” taunt. Talitha, as clear as anything, said “I’m going to hit you.” A truly comic moment - though she never went through on her promise…
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Overall:
I can’t believe my “short summary” turned into six pages’ worth. And I am still sitting here thinking about all I didn’t write about - the amazing late night talks with friends, the rooms I shared with Rachel J, Rachel S or Jayne and those conversations, the swing at Malenovice, the morning devotions and praise times, the crazy songs (and accompanying motions) of the evening programmes, the ominous “It’s GAME TIME!” led by Jarrod and Katcha, the hot chocolate at Malenovice, Jupi tropical orange juice…. I could go on and on and on.
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Looking back now, at the start of September, to my time at the Czech Republic, I just feel so blessed that I was part of this trip. I have learned so much - about myself, about friends I’ve known for years and about the amazing God who I got to know more out there and I hope I will hold onto those lessons back in Northern Ireland or as I head over to Cardiff. I do hope to head back to Czech Republic - we'll see what lies in store this next year.
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Thanks if you managed to read this all! Thanks for all your prayerful support for the trip and for those I know were praying for me as I got back home where I experienced that awful post-mission-trip-slump. But God is good, He is always faithful and His ways our not our ways, His plans, not our plans. And I rejoice in that.
Labels: Czech
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