Days 4 & 5

Day #4: Today was one of my more interesting days so far.  I took the tram for the first time by myself to meet Veronika who took me back to the foreign police to get registered.  We had to take a number and wait for our number to be called.    They did not appear to have a rhyme or reason to their system of calling numbers at first.  Later we found out that there were certain groups of numbers that went to certain police.  We waited...and waited....and waited...and waited for them to call our number.  SIX AND A HALF HOURS later, we finally heard the beautiful voice of someone saying "26" (in Czech, of course)!    Once we got in to see the police, the process took about 2 minutes.  Oh boy.  What a day.  Veronika and I just had to laugh about it though! 

 In 6.5 hours, I had plenty of time to ask Veronika more about Czech culture as well as do a lot of people watching!  There were people from all over the world in the waiting room.  There was one little boy who was maybe two years old who definitely kept us entertained!  He ran around doing the funniest things and making the funniest facial expressions and noises.  Being there 6.5 hours, I was also blessed to be able to see the beautiful sight of children of different nationalities and languages become friends through play, smiles, and laughter.  There was a little girl (3 years old maybe?) who came in with her mom.  The same little two year old boy had a sucker and went over and offered it to the little girl!  She was scared of him and did not want to accept the sucker.  He kept trying though and after multiple attempts, she finally accepted his sweet little gift.  As soon as she took it though, he ran over and took it back from her. ;)  The little boy had an older sister who was probably 4 and she went over to the other girl and reached out her hand to come play.  The little girl was very reluctant, but she eventually got up and the two held hands and spun around in a circle!  They little boy tried to join, but the 3 year old girl did not want to hold his hand haha.  The 4 year old girl then proceeded to jump and the 3 year old girl would do the same thing.  They continued this act of doing what the other was doing (jumping, running, etc.).  When the 3 year old girl and her mom left, the 4 year old girl and her little brother blew kisses to her and she blew kisses back to them.  It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen!  It definitely made waiting for 6.5 hours worth it. :)

By the time we left, we were very hungry!  We stopped by Tesco (the European equivalent of a Wal-Mart or Target) and I got an apple and some fresh hot bread with ham and cheese melted on top!  It was super good, but it tasted even better after such a long day.  It was only 18 korun ($1)!  Love it!  

Next, we went to the bank and finished setting up my bank account.  I was even given a nice gift of a web cam shaped like a cat for opening a bank account with KB!  Nice!

Then I finally went home sweet home and boy, was I glad to be there...

Day #5: Happy Valentine's Day!  Today I went to the Czech language course again (I missed it and everything else yesterday, due to spending the whole day at the foreign police).  On the way to Czech class, I had parek v rohliku (similar to a hot dog, but better!) from one of the street-side little buildings! 

There were only 3 of us in class today.  Afterwards, we tried to find a restaurant called "The Pub", but we couldn't find it and settled for Chinese instead.  As we were standing outside looking at the huge Chinese menu, someone came up to me and handed me a heart and a flyer.  The heart actually had a Bible verse in Czech on it and the flyer was for a local church!  I was very surprised by this because as a whole, the Czech Republic is a very lost country who is in desperate need of Jesus!

I thought it was Psalm 26:2, but when I tried to translate it didn't seem like the same verse.  So I'm not really sure!  If it is Psalm 26:2 then it says: 

"Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart."

I was reading through Psalm 26 though, and I think it translates more like Psalm 26:3 which says: 


"For I have always been mindful of your unfailing love and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness."

This made my heart  happy and reminded me that there is a light in this dark land and that God is still God even if His people don't accept Him!  My heart hurts for these people and I pray that the good news of Christ's saving grace will be made known to them.

Anyways...back to dinner!

I should have remembered what I said the other day about sticking to Czech food.  It tasted good at first, but by the end I was tired of all the fried, buttery food!  So what do I do?  Order fried bananas, of course.  We figured it was Valentine's day, so what the heck.  I had a different, but really good Valentine's day!  I hope you all did too!  :)