March 14th - March 28th

In the space of two weeks we have gone from a snow storm to 70 degrees. It seems that spring weather is just as changeable in Prague as in Rochester. The leaves are just coming out on the bushes today and the grass is turning green. We even had some thunder and lightning the other night.

With Easter around the corner, Max's school organized an Easter egg hunt in a nearby woods. What a hunt it was! The teachers who were dressed as bunnies were well hidden and at times we felt that we needed GPS! Some of the bunnies were roving through the woods and had to be chased down! Max and Katrina enjoyed the hunt, the candies, and the fellowship.


Charyssa has learned a number of things about Easter traditions from her Czech students. The funniest one occurs on the Monday after Easter, which is an official state holiday. It turns out that those pretty painted Easter eggs have another function. On Easter Monday boys weave little whips from willow branches and visit the homes of girls and give them a symbolic "whipping" and in return the girls give them painted Easter eggs or candy. A similar tradition occurs in Poland where neighbors douse each other with water. Our Polish friend said that you wanted to go to mass very early on Easter Monday before people get up because sitting in church dripping wet is really no fun at all!

We are also really happy to have Grandpa Ernie and Grandma Phyllis visiting us. They reported a good trip over and are getting acclimated to the time change. We are looking forward to having lots of fun together. Happy Easter to everyone!