Feb. 15 - Feb. 27

With Max's school following the British calendar, we had several days off for what is called "Half Term Break." With the Alps so close, we had to take the opportunity to ski there. We took a day long train trip to Kaprun, Austria. Taking the train was a really fun and relaxing way to travel. We read, colored, snacked, and played cards to pass the time. Here is a picture of a town near the Czech/Austrian border.

Kaprun is a beautiful little alpine town that we had been told was especially good for families with young children. It definitely lived up to its reputation with something for every ability level and beautiful scenery.

Max had some lessons and was skiing all over in no time.

Katrina learned to ski on the bunny hill after some lessons from daddy. She liked to say she was a reindeer.

Rod got to ski on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier one afternoon. The views from the top were wonderful.








It was also fun to watch the Olympics at the same time! In Austria the coverage was all about the German and Austrian teams of course. There was also a huge amount of coverage dedicated to the biathlon and cross-country ski events that aren't as well known in the US. Incidentally, Lindsey Vonn lived in Kaprun part of the time while she was training for the Olympics, and so locals there were keeping a close eye on her races, too.

Here in the Czech Republic, there is a lot of coverage of the Czech ski team and people are so happy about their speed skating champion. For hockey fans, however, there is no joy in Mudville. Charyssa notes that the time delay has been wreaking havoc on the health and work productivity of her business students. Her die hard hockey fans have had to pull all nighters this week to watch Finland beat Russia at 2 AM local time (very satisfying) and then watch the Czech team lose at 4 AM (ouch!) We are also happy to report that our TV drought of 6 months, due to technical difficulties with our internet provider and an old analog TV, has finally come to an end. We have finally found an internet site that will allow us to watch TV coverage from the US. NBC Olympic coverage live and in English!! Yeah!!

Feb. 1st - Feb. 14th

Happy Valentine's day to everyone. This holiday isn't celebrated in the Czech Republic, but we have received some lovely valentines from the US! The last two weeks have been filled with the usual school and work activities. We have had a little more snow, just a light dusting from time to time, but it's still on the ground. We have gotten in some more ice skating at an outdoor rink in downtown Prague. Max also got to have his first sleepover at a friend's house. In his words, "It was a blast!"

One of our Czech friends is a middle school science teacher, and she arranged for us to spend a day touring and sitting in on classes at her school. It was a really great experience for both of us.

Here is a picture of Red Hill Basic School on a snowy February morning. Classes begin at 8 and finish around 2 or 3 depending on the age.

This is one of the hallways.

This is a picture on the school lunch menu. There is always soup along with a choice of three hot entrees. Having a hot lunch is a very important part of the culture here.


This is a picture of a physics class Rod sat in on.

This is a first grade class having a snack before their English lesson begins. There is no recess time, but the students get a 20 minute break for snack and socializing at 10 AM.

Charyssa thought this was a fun poster about the US that a class had done for a social studies project. You can see what the students think is important to know about our country!

We are looking forward to watching the Olympics. It will get us in the mood as we head to Kaprun, Austria to do some skiing later in the week. Go USA and Czech Republic!