The Past Few Months

Hi Everyone,

It’s been a while since I’ve made a post about my expat existence here, in the Czech Republic. I have to say that Life has been extremely busy, and sometimes complicated, in the past few months. Even so, I’ve been working through everything and finally have a chance to sit down and update you about my expat life here, in the Czech Republic.

Double Graduations

Back in May, Jiri and I flew to the US to join my family in celebrating the graduation of both our daughters from university. This was a very exciting time. We enjoyed spending about two weeks with my whole family, and traveling to both kids’ graduations. Can you imagine—both girls graduated on the very same day, but in two different cities in two different states? What are the odds of that happening? 

My family had to make an important decision as to who would travel where for which graduation. We finally let the decision fall to the head of our clan, Dad. Dad did a great job in dividing us up. Both girls had a lot of support from family and close friends that day. We all had a great time. Later in our visit, Mom had a party for the girls’ graduations, and my birthday. That was also great, aside from the fact I was very ill with asthma and allergies. We had a wonderful visit with everyone back home, and all too soon it was time for Jiri and I to come back to Prague.

Milestone Birthday

During the summer, I also celebrated a milestone birthday. I will leave it to you to figure out which milestone I passed. And please, any friends who read this post, don’t mention my age. I’m not horribly sensitive about it, but would like to keep this information a little bit closer to home. This birthday year has been full of challenges on many levels and of all kinds. I’ve had a chance not only to look back over past years, but also this year, to see exactly where I’ve come from and what I’ve accomplished. I am not so happy with all my accomplishments, and so continue to improve on those. Even so, I have come a ways from where I was even ten years ago. I’m grateful for my years, though not happy with the fact that I turned my current age, and then ended up with a cane—more on that later.

Sněžka and a Cane

In July, we had planned to spend a week with friends (Ricky & Sybille) in the Krknose Mountains here, in the Czech Republic. Everything had been planned and reserved, and when it came time for us to leave, one of our gerbil clan (that’s another story) came down sick. Here, I will link back to Ricky’s post about our trip to the mountains, to where he makes a reference to our sick gerbil, and that he would leave that to me to explain. 

One of our little guys (gerbils) came down with a nasty infection, and needed to be treated with antibiotics daily, along with a special diet and a urological tea treatment. Some friends had offered to take care of our little clan while we were gone, but we couldn’t ask them to give the little guy medicine every day, etc. It also wasn’t logical to take our little sick guy with us on the trip. So, Jiri and I stayed home that week, but decided we would join Ricky & Sybille in the Krknose on the weekend.

All went well with our little gerbil guy that week, and by the weekend it was safe to leave him and the rest our clan for a day or so. We met with Ricky and Sybille in Pec pod Sněžkou, where we all stayed at the Nikola penzion. The Krknose are beautiful mountains located in the north eastern part of the Czech Republic, sharing a border with Poland. I’ll write more about this mountain range in another post, but suffice it to say, my mountaineering husband was determined to get to the top of the highest peak, Sněžka (the highest peak in the Czech Republic), with me in tow that weekend.

This was the easy part of the trail up.

Ricky, Jiri and I, plus Sam (Ricky and Sybille’s beautiful golden lab) began the trek Saturday morning. Sybille couldn’t join us as she had a calf injury that precluded her from making such a trek that weekend. Our trip up was a good walk/hike, and I was mostly doing OK, but had developed some horrible leg and back pains along the first rugged part of the path. My asthma was also acting up, but my inhaler saved the day. I’m thankful for emergency inhalers, and the walking sticks I chose to bring on our hike. By the time we made it to the first bouda, I was sure it would be impossible for me to make it up to the top of Sněžka. 

I wanted to stay there and wait for Jiri, Ricky and Sam while they made the trek up and back, but Jiri was not for that at all. He said it was only a little farther—surely I could manage that. OK, and I had a harder climb from then on with the pain and breathing. The way up the switchback is like a “lady’s walk” for some, but the steps are tall, wide, unevenly shaped rocks. This was quite a challenge for me, even though I have long legs (being 5’7.5”), my legs are still shorter than Jiri’s and Ricky’s, both of whom are over 6’. I took the “lady’s walk” at my own pace and finally managed to make it to the top. 

What a glorious view! Then we rested and started down. I can’t remember how many kilometers we made that day, but by the end, suffice it to say I couldn’t walk too well. I thought it was just muscles that were tired and out-of-shape. Eventually, I learned that I had a herniated disk, along with a birth defect called spinal stenosis. Eventually I was also diagnosed with a complex labral tear in my hip, which took 1.5 years to diagnosed. (Update 2016: I eventually went on to have hip surgery, and things are much better now--no cane!). This is when I ended up with a cane and had a long run with many MRIs and PT, etc. after.

Going Forward

As you can see, the past few months have been pretty busy for me. There have been times I wanted to write, but then when sitting in front of the computer, I found it wasn’t quite the right time to make a post. Sometimes it’s necessary to just experience Life and ponder a bit. My hope is to get back into posting on a regular basis once again. This coming Sunday, October 16^th, this blog is participating in Blog Action Day, on the topic of food. This will be a fun project. After this, I’ll be posting about various trips Jiri and I have taken and about expat life, in general.

Have a great day!

God bless,

Sher

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Photo Credits
Graduation Cap by nisia915 at Photobucket.com
Birthday Cake by DeborahWhite on Photobucket.com

Blog Action Day 2009

Hi Everyone,
Today is Blog Action Day--and this blog is participating (even at the last minute). What is Blog Action Day? The website says, "Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion." There are 8,565 bloggers signed up to participate in this event. What a powerful event way to spread the message about climate change and living a more "green" life to help the planet.

Since moving to Europe, my entire life, at every level, has changed drastically. My life in the Czech Republic has become much "greener" and environmentally friendly here. For instance, back in the States, I had an electric washer and dryer, a Jeep Cherokee, air conditioning, etc. Well, I have some of those same things here, but my use of these appliances and the car has completely turned around. Electricity is very expensive here, in the Czech Republic, and in most of the rest of Europe. People are very careful about the way in which they consume energy due to the expense, but also more and more Europeans are becoming more aware of climate change and the damage we are all doing to our planet. Back to my life here in Europe, I no longer have a car. That was one of the first major changes when I moved to the Czech Republic. My husband and I live in Prague. Prague is a beautiful city that has a wonderful public transit system. We don't really need to have a car in order to get around. And truly, I don't miss driving too much. The city drivers are a bit scary in the way they drive. I'm not sure I could keep out of their way, and I'm afraid I would bring one of those round-abouts to a stop since I'm not exactly sure how they work! Anyway, this was one ways that my life became much "greener" and more climate friendly right when I arrived in Prague. Along with the public transit we also do a lot of walking around the city. Prague is a beautiful place, so walking here is usually a pleasure. There's always something new to see or experience as you run your errands.

Another area that changed drastically is the way we do laundry here compared to the way it's done in the US. We have an electric washer, of course, but it is one that tumbles the clothes (the washer's basket sits sideways in the washer). This means there is less use of water. In the US, my washer had a huge basket that would hold several gallons of water per each cycle for one load of clothes. One load of wash back home would take about 30-45 minutes. Here, the washer takes at least an hour, and more for washing sheets and towels. Even so, my washer here is much "greener" than my washer back in the States. The washer here doesn't use as much water or electricity. So, we save water, energy and money--and still have very clean clothes. The next step in doing laundry is drying. I had an electric dryer back in the US, but here, we have a drying rack or clothes lines on which to hang our clothes. The clothes will air-dry, rather than using electricity or gas. Again, this saves energy and money! Air-drying clothes isn't as convenient. It took me a while to get used to doing laundry in this way, but now I actually prefer it to the way I did laundry back home.

I must say that we also don't have nearly as much waste as I did when living in the US. I can't say for certain why that is. But back in the US, just my daughter and I, and our dog, produced a Jeep load of trash in just a few days! Here, though, my husband and I, and our two gerbil boys produce only about 1/3 of the amount of trash we had in the States! Packaging of products is much better here. There's not nearly the amount of cardboard, paper and plastic in our trash. Czechs are also very good about recycling many items such as plastic and glass. They will also use things up until they have to be replaced, rather than constantly purchasing new things. This, too, is another way that we live greener here in the Czech Republic.

These are only a couple of ways that my life has become much "greener" since moving to the Czech Republic. I must say, that we really don't use nearly as much electricity even to light our flat or cook, etc. We try to save where we can--to save the environment and to save money. This has given me a new perspective on the way I once lived compared to how I live now. My life has definitely become much more "earth-friendly" than it used to be. I hope to continue to become more energy efficient, more "green" in my ways of living and being so that the Earth might be a more pleasant place for my kids and their kids--and for everyone around the world.

Thanks for stopping by--visit another blog--and learn how other expats are learning to live "greener" lives around the world. Please support Blog Action Day!

Have a great day!

God bless,
Sher

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