We are HOME!

Well we have been home for almost for 2 weeks now and it seems like just yesterday that we were in Prague! This is a just a short post but more reflections from our trip are soon to follow ( Yes, English Camp will be included..)

On Friday August 28th, Casey, Chris and I will be having a BBQ at the Rurik's place to share some stories, experiences and hopefully an eye-catching multimedia presentation capturing our time over in the Czech Republic. We will also ask the question "What comes next?", "Where do we go from here?"

So please come enjoy some burgers, dogs and fellowship. All of you loyal blog readers are invited and we would love for you to be there!

And here are the rest of the details

When: Starts at 6pm but come anytime after that

Where: The Rurik's home

We will provide the main entree but ask that you bring a side dish or dessert to share (...or both!)

Coming Home

Wow. Tomorrow we fly home.

Right now Jory, Casey, and I are sitting in Martin and Jane's flat after two full days in Prague. We have met with all kinds of new friends around the city, including a delicious dinner at Nina and Andre's apartment and seeing a bunch of our good friends from the multisport at a park to play one last game of ultimate. It is amazing to know so many people in this city all of a sudden. Three weeks ago we arrived and it was almost a lonely (though exciting) place to be; today we can plan two full days of activities with various people around the city. I feel like if I were to come back in a year or two I'd have so many people to see.

Speaking for myself, I can say that I am so ready to come home. I look back on the trip and I can't believe how long and diverse this journey has been. I miss Silverbow Farm and my family, and am excited to breathe Washington air again.

We would all like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has read this blog and supported us throughout all phases of the trip - from Jory's phone call to me many months ago to our long days at both camps. We will continue to write in the blog when we return home so that you can get an even better picture (we'll post pictures too) of what the last few weeks of this trip have been like. An especially big thank you goes to everyone who supported us financially, because of you we were able to take this trip by storm without worrying about finances. Of course the best way for you to hear about it is to ask once we get back - we'll tell you all about it!

I've begun a list (surely I'll continue it on the plane) of foods to eat upon my return:

-chicken fajitas

-waffles

-barbecued anything

-blueberries

-corn on the cob

-milkshake

-farm eggs

-tofu

-funfetti cake with blueberries

I've been incessantly writing things in my notebook, I'm sure I'll post more when I have more time. That includes my daily 100 words, which I've miraculously managed to keep up on! (Almost.)

I will miss:

-gelatto

-European pizza (I had one with smoked salmon and artichoke on it tonight)

-Prague's awesome public transportation which includes metro, bus, and tram

-Martin, Jane, and everyone else we've met in the Czech Republic

Once again, it's been such a long journey, I want to show all of you all the pictures we've accumulated and tell you about the people we've come across and gesticulate wildly as we remember anecdotes.

Our flight leaves at 11:00 tomorrow morning, we have a short layover in Atlanta, then we come into Seatac in the evening.

I'll follow the sun around the world from a place I've never been to the land I've known my entire life. Beautiful Washington! Bustling blueberry bushes! Breezy Gig Harbor! Key Peninsula covered in blackberry vines and hay fields! I'm coming back!

Back To Prague

Wow, well I really don't know what to write right now. It is 2:00 in the morning and I am sitting in good old Hotel Angelis, across the street from the Staropramen brewery with the quietude of Prague around us again. This morning we woke up at 6:30 to see off Brandon and Nikki (our two new good friends from Chicago) off from the camp since they had to leave early to catch a flight. Since we were up before everyone else, we decided to walk about a kilometer up the road to an old monument sitting under a tree beside a field. It was a beautiful morning to be walking and the fields in the morning were fresh and extremely pleasant to be in. Breakfast was at 8:30, we packed with all the kids, and by 11:00 were on the bus back to Prague. We went out to dinner at a delicious restaurant with all 22 leaders who were left in town (at camp there were 14 American leaders and 10 Czech leaders). I had grilled chicken with mashed potatoes and spinach salad. Casey had a lamb burger. Jory had pork ribs. All were delicious. Afterwards we went out for some of the best gelatto we've yet encountered - funny story was, I was singing as we walked after dinner about how I was still kind of hungry and really wanted a grapefruit to Tyler and when we got to the gelatto shop there it was, grapefruit gelatto. After wandering for a while, Jory and InShil have spent the last few hours trying to burn DVDs full of pictures for various team members. It's an on-going process still.

English camp was amazing. I know you are all very impatient to hear all about it, but unfortunately it is late and the vast majority of the details will emerge when we get home, as we may not have internet access again until then. It was a really good time for all of us. I can say that for me personally (though I was sick for over half of it, which I eventually recovered from) the combination of beautiful scenery, kids that were energetic and intelligent, and fellow leaders who loved fun and discussing some hard aspects of life made this camp one of the most memorable I've been to. I feel like I'm not doing it justice the way I'm describing it. Oh well (for tonight).

Tomorrow we wake up early again to see off another wave of fellow leaders as they head to the airport to fly back to the Washington D.C. area. We'll meet our friend Molly and go to church with her, then ideally hook up with Petr and Eva from sport camp to play some frisbee! I'm really excited to see those two again. Then we're heading to our friend Nina's for dinner and who knows what other hijinks. Should be a full day on not a whole lot of gas in the tank.

Speaking for myself, I am so excited to come home. I've been having irresistible visions of Silverbow Farm, have started making lists of foods I want to eat, and can't wait for a great week with so many family members around when I return. It has been a long trip, and there is not one part that I regret. Soon I'll be on the plane for the next step in my never-ending quest to live my life.