Happy December, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year,
I pray that your Thanksgiving and Christmas were filled with moments of thankfulness
to the amazing God we serve for the blessings and challenges he has allowed you
this year! I am very thankful for the time I got to spend in the Czech Republic over Thanksgiving with some of the single women there. Spending time with them in their homes and
even in their schools was an eye-opening experience that I will never forget!
Let me walk you through my time in the Czech Republic…
I arrived Sunday with a bit of jetlag, but enjoyed walking
around with Jessica and her roommate Erin to see some of beautiful city of
Prague. Jessica is the manager of the ESL program for TB. She oversees the
teachers that are in national schools. She works with the schools as well as
the teachers to insure the students are getting a quality English education. She
has been in Prague for 8 years and will continue to serve there as long as the
Lord allows her. Erin, her roommate, is not with TB but is an English teacher in
Prague after living in Jordan for a number of years. They were amazing hostesses during my week!
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| Erin and Jessica in front of one of the many churches |
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| The Prague castle in the background |
Monday was filled with rest and more site-seeing to the
castle, a small Christmas market, and the beautiful architecture of Prague.
Later in the evening we met up with two of the four TB girls who work at the
Christian International school in Prague for a lovely classic Czech dinner.
Tuesday, Jessica and I arose early to board a train to Pardubice
to visit with Danielle and the teachers she works with. She works in a Czech
school for students who will eventually be chemists. This is Danielle’s first
year as an English teacher and her first year in the Czech Republic, so our
time with her was spent making sure she was getting what she needs and
assessing how we could better support her in this first year. After meeting
with her colleagues and watching her class, we ventured out into the city and
enjoyed lunch together. Jessica went back to Prague and I spent the night with
Danielle in her small dorm room.
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| Town Hall...they were getting ready for Christmas |
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| Danielle teaching- She did great! |
Wednesday was spent talking more with Danielle and
developing a plan of how to support her throughout the remainder of the school year. I
also got to sit in on two of her classes, played a vocabulary game with them, and
enjoyed learning some Czech words from her students as they laughed at my pronunciation.
After her classes, I got on a train headed back to Prague where I met Jessica.
Early Thursday morning, Jessica and I got on a train headed
to Cheb near the German border. After our three hour beautiful train ride, we
met up with three more TB ESL teachers, Jess, Annie, and Sarah for lunch. Afterward, I spent a small amount of time one on one with each girl. This is Annie’s
second year and Sarah’s first year. I met the two of them at TB orientation and have been keeping up with them ever
since. This was my first time to meet Jess, and it was great to hear about her 3
years in Cheb as well as her transition to TB from another organization. Even
though we had some meaningful conversation I did long for a bit more time with
each one as well as learning more about their day to day life. Jessica and I
headed back to Prague after our six hour stay.
As you can see, this was a busy trip with a lot of travel, but it was enjoyable and eye-opening. It allowed me to understand
the Czech culture as well as experience a bit of how they live life. It gave me more
insight into the lives of these ladies and will aid me in better
serving them in the future.
My next post will be... Lessons from the Czech Republic. You don't want to miss it!
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