Perfect Day for a Picnic

CISP gathered at Park Folimanka for the all-school celebration picnic. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. Check out the following photos!

One of "Those" Days

We've been in Prague three weeks today, and we've accomplished quite a lot in this time span. So much, in fact, that I was lulled into believing that I could continue to check things off my still very long "To Do" list at a rapid-fire rate. Instead, I've had a day in which nothing was accomplished according to my desires. I've had one of "those" days.

• My parents mailed us a package, and wonder of wonders, it's already arrived. (If we still lived in Russia, I wouldn't even look for a package until mid-October.) We were given a large packet of papers from the post office a week ago which confirmed the package was in the customs house, and told that we could begin to file the appropriate forms to claim it. I foolishly thought that claiming a package in a progressive country like the Czech Republic would be pretty straight-forward, but for every paper I've submitted, I've received another request for more information. Today, I was asked to send in either a work permit or my study-abroad papers, neither of which I have. I'm starting to think that I may never receive this box or its contents.
• One of the things we were told we had to do once we signed the lease on our flat was to transfer the utilities into our names, and we needed to do this within 10 days of moving in. "Okay," we thought. "No problem." It probably wouldn't have been a problem except it took the resident manager nearly a week & half to get us the proper forms that we needed. It probably wouldn't have been a problem if it hadn't taken me an extra day to complete these forms (and this was with a great deal of help from one of our co-workers.) Still, I gamely set out to find the main offices for the electricity and gas services, believing that I'd be able to just get us in under the wire. I reached the offices about 1:15 p.m., only to discover that they'd both closed at noon. "Yeah," someone told me later, "forget trying to conduct business on a Friday." Information that would have been useful yesterday...
• The refrigerator we purchased came with an extended warranty, but the warranty wasn't delivered with the frig. But not to worry, said the e-mail which came on Wednesday, I simply needed to find one of the stores and ask them to print the warranty information for me. Sounds simple enough, right? Not if you're trying to conduct business on a Friday!
• We had three days in which to register our visas when we first arrived in Prague, and we did so. However, we have a new apartment, which means we have a new address, which means that we have to re-register our visas! I'd sent the signed contract which confirmed our new address to the visa agent (who truly has been incredibly helpful - I'm grateful to have his assistance) but unfortunately, we won't be able to get an appointment with the foreign police until at least two weeks from now. That's okay, because in the meantime, Phil has to declare me his legal power of attorney in Prague so I can take his passport with mine to register us both at the same address.

Quite frankly, the events of the day made me feel that I was still living in Moscow, but with much nicer weather and friendlier clerks. In fact, I was starting to wish that I *was* back in Moscow, because at least I would know what sort of hoops & hurdles I'd have to jump in a day's work. I took myself to a coffee shop to sulk for awhile, noting that at least I was only paying 1/3 of what I'd pay for coffee in Moscow. It was one of those classic "pictures of Egypt" moments, when you start to wish for what you had, not necessarily because it was great, but because it was so familiar. It's important to remember that God did not call us to serve in Prague because it would be "easier" or "calmer" or "better" than our previous place of service. He called us to be here because it's where He wants us, period.

Thankfully, I'm ending the day on a better note than I started it. I did manage to collect some necessary groceries on the way home, and I even found some local honey (which hopefully will help with my terrible allergies!) I'll rest & recoup over the weekend, and set out to accomplish the same tasks next Monday.

First Day of School!

Today was the official start of the 2013-14 school year at CISP! Here's a short video from chapel this morning.

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Our Container Made It!

Today is an exciting day - our container has arrived! 

clothing, bedding, pictures & books

the boxes we've managed to unpack so far

kitchen table, dishes, pots & pans

the new (full-sized) frige

In the midst of all of the chaos of the unloading or our container, we received a phone call from the appliance store - our refrigerator was downstairs waiting to be installed. What timing! We are thankful we found this appliance for such a good price. Still no washing machine - this may have to wait another month. 

We are grateful to have our household items and our furniture again - especially our own bed.

Open House - A Look at Our New School

Tonight was CISP's Back-to-School Open House, which included a parent meeting and an ice-cream social! Below are some pictures from the evening's events.

Phil's new classroom

the hallway in the secondary wing

the "student commons" at the rear of the multi-purpose room

the art room and the doorway to the tutoring center

the computer lab

our amazing library

children's section - it's so colorful & inviting

Melodee manning the main desk in the office

1st & 2nd grade classroom

parents picking up their handbooks

getting ready for the big welcome

This is why we're here!

celebrating the start of the new year with an ice-cream social

School will officially begin on Wednesday, and we are excited to be a part of what's happening here!

Our Current "Campground"

We have a home - Rumunska 14!  Although it's lacking a few several comforts of home, we're very thankful to have found a place to live which is so close to the school, and so close to our budget. Now we're praying that our container will clear customs without any further delay, so that we'll finally be able to sleep in our own bed again. We've gotten several mixed messages concerning the delivery of our belongings, but we're hopeful that our things might arrive before the start of school next week.

Here are a few pictures of our new place. Please excuse the mess - we're still trying to determine where we'd like everything to go.

Our entry way - big enough to be a room!

This is our current "bedroom" - we're futon-sitting for some colleagues headed on furlough.

While our kitchen came with a stove, oven & even a dishwasher, it did not include a refrigerator. We're currently borrowing one from the school, but we will have to purchase one in the near future.

Our kitchen - refrigerator not included.

The frig & microwave graciously loaned to us by CISP

Here's Baby B's future room! We're very grateful that we've been loaned a crib and a changing table for this year.

Baby's room - some assembly required

Our bathroom has it's own boiler (no more summers without hot water!) but it did not include a washing machine.

Shower & washroom on the left; toilet & sink on the right.

We had not planned to have to buy two major appliances right at the start of our term, so we are praying for the Lord to provide not only affordable equipment, but also the additional funds we'll need to pay for delivery and installation.

We do not have internet at home. Christiana initiated the process of trying to get us connected, but it will be another week before they even send a "technik" to evaluate our flat to see what sort of a set-up we can have. The next big step is to put all of the utilities into our names, and to get an affidavit from our landlord stating that she has the legal right to rent us this place. Once we have those documents, we can apply to be legally registered in Prague 2, which will pave the way for us to eventually have our visas extended.

Please continue to pray for the safe delivery of the contents of our container, as well as for all of the tasks we still have to accomplish to be residents of Prague.

What a Week!

We've been in the Czech Republic exactly one week. In this time we have:

• Celebrated at a colleague's birthday party
• Purchased sim cards & activated our phones
• Attended an international worship service
• Looked at apartments
• Acquainted ourselves with the tram network
• Registered our visas with the foreign police
• Looked at apartments
• Visited our new OB and received a clean bill of health for mommy & Baby B
• Signed more documents for the shipping company to deliver our container
• Looked at apartments
• Started orientation at CISP
• FOUND an apartment
• Checked out the metro system
• Investigated a thrift store
• Registered ourselves for "Open Cards" (the Prague transportation cards which will also double as library cards)
• Signed the rental contract for our new home
• Celebrated our first week in Prague with a date night, and somehow ended up on the wrong tram home

The biggest praises this week are for the very encouraging doctor's appointment, and the location of our new home! While this apartment did not come "fully equipped" as we had hoped it might (it's missing a refrigerator and it doesn't have a washing machine), it is a very good-sized apartment, and it's only a ten-minute walk from school. It's also one of the only buildings we looked at which allowed a stroller to roll right in off the street - no two flights of stairs before we even reached the elevator. 

Even though it doesn't have a single stick of furniture in it yet, we're moving in TOMORROW, and we appreciate continued prayer for the safe & hassle-free delivery of our container. It's supposed to be here next week - we'll see whether that materializes or not.