During Christmas time both of my roommate's parents prayed out loud for the first time since she was about five years old! Praise the Lord!
Also, one set of her grandparents have been married for 50 years. In all of those years of marriage, Terka's grandfather had refused to wash dishes, claiming that it is "women's work". But, while we were visiting on Christmas, her grandpa washed all of the dishes! It was the first time in 50 years of marriage!
Praise the Lord for how He can work and change people's hearts to draw them back to Him. :)
"Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." -Mark 10:27
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Christmas in Karlovy Vary
At Christmas time I got to go with my roommate Terka to her home town of Karlovy Vary (which is about two hours west of Prague). It was such a wonderful time!
I was happy to be able to get to spend time with her family and participate in their traditional Czech-style celebration. For Czechs, the Christmas holiday is three days long with the main celebration occurring on "Christmas Eve".
On Christmas Eve morning we decorated the Christmas tree with Czech decorations which included home-made gingerbread and straw ornaments.
Christmas Eve day is usually spent cooking and cleaning for the big celebration, but Terka's mom had already done a lot of the preparation in advance so we were free to go on a hike in the beautiful snow-covered pine forest nearby! What fun and what beauty. It was a joy to get to be in the fresh-feeling nature and "get away from it all" after the hectic pre-Christmas season...I love feeling close to God the Creator amidst the peacefulness and tranquility of the tall pine forest. Those trees have been there for so many years and God sustained them throughout that time through all of the changing seasons, the trees were rooted and firm. Amazing. And we are as temporary as those trees here on earth, but God sustains us too! Wow. He is good, big, holy...He creates perfection and wonders to stand in awe over, to admire...He shows His power in the awesome beauty of His created world! I stand in awe of Him...
We got to join some friends and neighbors for caroling outside in the street nearby(we sang Czech koledy accompanied by a flute and a clarinet)when it got dark outside. It was a festive time with sparkelers and and refreshments and visiting with friends after the carols. Terka's young adult group from her church hosted the event. What fun to have neighbors who enjoy socializing and spending time with each other, just enjoying each others' company.
At dinner time we ate the traditional meal of fried carp fish, carp soup (with fish eggs), potato salad and Czech Christmas sweets that Terka's mother had prepared. Yum! I had been hearing so much about these traditional foods from my students in Prague during the weeks before Christmas...it was quite an experience to finally get to sample them after so much anticipation! Woohoo! :) Hehe!
I was glad to get to join in my roommate's family's gift exchange time (although it was a little different for me to open presents on Christmas Eve!)
Other enjoyable expereinces from this Christmas trip included:
-Sampling the natural spring water. Karlovy Vary is a popular Czech spa town. The water was between 40-60 *C and it has a high mineral content which is supposed to have healing properties, but which makes the water taste a bit sulfuric
-Going to a midnight Christmas concert
-Visiting Terka's grandparents on Christmas day and the following day. This visiting prolongs the Christmas celebration for the Czech people and makes it a three-day event! Both sets of grandparents served us a traditional meal of svickova which is dumplings, a special sauce, meat and a cranberry relish. Each cook prepares this dish differently and one grandma made it with rabbit! Her husband had traded his friend five pints of blueberries from their cottage for the rabbit in the summer time and they had saved it for the occasion
-Going to church on Christmas day
-Being immersed in the Czech language!
I praise God for this opporutunity to experience a Czech Christmas.
I was happy to be able to get to spend time with her family and participate in their traditional Czech-style celebration. For Czechs, the Christmas holiday is three days long with the main celebration occurring on "Christmas Eve".
On Christmas Eve morning we decorated the Christmas tree with Czech decorations which included home-made gingerbread and straw ornaments.
Christmas Eve day is usually spent cooking and cleaning for the big celebration, but Terka's mom had already done a lot of the preparation in advance so we were free to go on a hike in the beautiful snow-covered pine forest nearby! What fun and what beauty. It was a joy to get to be in the fresh-feeling nature and "get away from it all" after the hectic pre-Christmas season...I love feeling close to God the Creator amidst the peacefulness and tranquility of the tall pine forest. Those trees have been there for so many years and God sustained them throughout that time through all of the changing seasons, the trees were rooted and firm. Amazing. And we are as temporary as those trees here on earth, but God sustains us too! Wow. He is good, big, holy...He creates perfection and wonders to stand in awe over, to admire...He shows His power in the awesome beauty of His created world! I stand in awe of Him...
We got to join some friends and neighbors for caroling outside in the street nearby(we sang Czech koledy accompanied by a flute and a clarinet)when it got dark outside. It was a festive time with sparkelers and and refreshments and visiting with friends after the carols. Terka's young adult group from her church hosted the event. What fun to have neighbors who enjoy socializing and spending time with each other, just enjoying each others' company.
At dinner time we ate the traditional meal of fried carp fish, carp soup (with fish eggs), potato salad and Czech Christmas sweets that Terka's mother had prepared. Yum! I had been hearing so much about these traditional foods from my students in Prague during the weeks before Christmas...it was quite an experience to finally get to sample them after so much anticipation! Woohoo! :) Hehe!
I was glad to get to join in my roommate's family's gift exchange time (although it was a little different for me to open presents on Christmas Eve!)
Other enjoyable expereinces from this Christmas trip included:
-Sampling the natural spring water. Karlovy Vary is a popular Czech spa town. The water was between 40-60 *C and it has a high mineral content which is supposed to have healing properties, but which makes the water taste a bit sulfuric
-Going to a midnight Christmas concert
-Visiting Terka's grandparents on Christmas day and the following day. This visiting prolongs the Christmas celebration for the Czech people and makes it a three-day event! Both sets of grandparents served us a traditional meal of svickova which is dumplings, a special sauce, meat and a cranberry relish. Each cook prepares this dish differently and one grandma made it with rabbit! Her husband had traded his friend five pints of blueberries from their cottage for the rabbit in the summer time and they had saved it for the occasion
-Going to church on Christmas day
-Being immersed in the Czech language!
I praise God for this opporutunity to experience a Czech Christmas.
Return to Dobruska/Bystre
Before Christmas I had the chance to visit some friends in an area in the Czech mountains that is about three hours northeast of Prague.
It was such a blessing to visit these kind people again! I am grateful to the Lord for creating such wonderful believers who show such warmth in their hospitality. It was so healing for my soul to be loved and cared for and accepted as part of their family for a few days.
I got to experience my friend's mother's Czech cooking during the weekend, which was quite a treat. I was there on a Saturday morning which is her weekly "buchty" making day! She gets up early every Saturday to make the dough from scratch and let it rise. After breakfast, I got to observe the preparation process as she rolled out the dough, made the filling, made the topping and baked the creation on a large "plech" (cookie sheet). Hooray! It was delicious. It reminded me of being at home in Minnesota because some of the ladies at the Czech "Sokol" hall also enjoy making buchty/kolacy. Yay for Czech pastries! :)
Whlie living in the village for a few days I was able to appreciate the slower, more peaceful pace of life in the countryside. The natural beauty that God created is so apparent there with the rolling hills and farm land. I can see why many Czechs immigrated to southern Minnesota. There is definitely a resemblance in the landscape.
Another highlight was having the chance to go to a cooperative concert put on by the local Protestant and Catholic churches! Yay! Praise God for the unity that the people in the community were able to display as they sang carols in Czech praising the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ! It seemed like everyone in the area turned out for the event.
Upon my return to Prague, I also became aware of a different kind of blessing in the city to be thankful for...the blessing of personal space/privacy, hehe! It seemed that everyone knew my name and I was only there for a few days! Oh the different joys and trials of city and country life! :)
It was such a blessing to visit these kind people again! I am grateful to the Lord for creating such wonderful believers who show such warmth in their hospitality. It was so healing for my soul to be loved and cared for and accepted as part of their family for a few days.
I got to experience my friend's mother's Czech cooking during the weekend, which was quite a treat. I was there on a Saturday morning which is her weekly "buchty" making day! She gets up early every Saturday to make the dough from scratch and let it rise. After breakfast, I got to observe the preparation process as she rolled out the dough, made the filling, made the topping and baked the creation on a large "plech" (cookie sheet). Hooray! It was delicious. It reminded me of being at home in Minnesota because some of the ladies at the Czech "Sokol" hall also enjoy making buchty/kolacy. Yay for Czech pastries! :)
Whlie living in the village for a few days I was able to appreciate the slower, more peaceful pace of life in the countryside. The natural beauty that God created is so apparent there with the rolling hills and farm land. I can see why many Czechs immigrated to southern Minnesota. There is definitely a resemblance in the landscape.
Another highlight was having the chance to go to a cooperative concert put on by the local Protestant and Catholic churches! Yay! Praise God for the unity that the people in the community were able to display as they sang carols in Czech praising the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ! It seemed like everyone in the area turned out for the event.
Upon my return to Prague, I also became aware of a different kind of blessing in the city to be thankful for...the blessing of personal space/privacy, hehe! It seemed that everyone knew my name and I was only there for a few days! Oh the different joys and trials of city and country life! :)
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