We had our regular Friday Czech lesson with Tamara today and we did something a little different and special. After our normal lesson (which I struggled through today), Tamara showed us a song that from what I understand was an anthem during the Velvet Revolution in Czech. Tamara had actually showed Bethany the song a few weeks ago, but I missed that lesson because I wasn’t feeling well. So today we were at Tamara’s house and she is also a musician so she showed us the song on piano and even allowed me to strum along on her guitar. Bethany got a video and you can hear Tamara playing and signing, although you won’t understand the words (sorry about that).
A Czech Anthem from Shay on Vimeo.
For the past few days Bethany has experienced the most discomfort she has had in this pregnancy. She still has about eight weeks to go, but yesterday and today have been pretty hard on her. Tonight we decided to go for a walk to a local restaurant because she really wasn’t feeling up for cooking and a walk sounded nice. But during the walk she was definitely uncomfortable. Thankfully the place isn’t far from us, so we didn’t have to walk for long. If you think of it, definitely be praying for her as we start to enter the final stretch here before our third child is born.
During our walk Titus and Avery were being pretty cute, and the weather was amazing so here’s a few photos.
We enjoyed a really nice dinner, but it’s still very frustrating to not be able to speak enough Czech to order. Our waitress tonight actually spoke great English, so that was a blessing, but going to eat is a constant (I mean, constant) reminder of how much we don’t know of the language. For me it’s really frustrating and often affects my attitude. I definitely had to get my heart right tonight during dinner because I’m struggling with language and also trying to train our kids to stay seated and not be too loud, etc, etc. Often when all of those things collide at dinner I find my attitude changing and have to remind myself that this is all a process (both parenting and language learning).
As we walked back from dinner tonight we passed a lady who heard us speaking English. The kids were being crazy after dinner so we were focused on them, but the lady turned and said something to me which I just assumed was in Czech. I say, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand” in Czech and she said to me in a perfect English accent, “Oh, that’s OK.” We ended up talking with her for a few minutes and she’s from England and teaches English in our town. If I understood her correctly, she has been here 10 years and has met other Josiah Venture missionaries like us. Outside of other missionaries, we rarely meet native English speakers so it was kind of fun. We told her there were other American missionaries like us in our town and she she said she would look out for them.
Tomorrow we’re heading to Poland to do some photos for about 16 different families and individuals. The weather is supposed to be incredible and we’ll going to the Josiah Venture training center in Poland which is a beautiful place. I think the kids are going to enjoy all the places to run and play there and I’m excited to do a little photography for a change. Until then…dobrou noc.
