prague

i've been thinking of what word i would have called germany.

of course 'EFFICIENCY' would have been the stereotypical answer and i think that's true for most of germany...

but for my friends at kubic, i choose

COMMITTED.

i explained most of it in my last blog,

but that group of people really is committed to the best of things...

each other, God, the future. all of it;

and they are open-minded and willing to try and listen.

.

i've been in prague for 4 days now and on saturday i will head back to the UK.

my trip up to orkney will be a pilgrimage in itself:

two flights, a train, and a ferry just to get to the jones' home.

oh, and it's going to be 55 degrees there...pretty chilly.

prague has been an interesting place.

my first day here was spent helping move an office.

there is nothing like physical labor to get a person out of their own head.

you focus on the flex and strain of every muscle rather than the swirling in your head.

i'm grateful for that.

the people i am staying with are great-

sasa has been working for 10 years now on translating the bible into modern day czech (their last translation is around 50 years old)

he's done it piece by piece and in a few months they will be done with the entire thing.

here you can watch a documentary that was done on the project.

i have learned a lot by sharing theology with him-

i haven't talked theology in awhile.

i kinda felt like i was back in school!

he and katka have four kiddos, two of which are adorable little boys who keep asking their mommy 'what is that girl saaaying'.

they are cute and shy.

their daughters are 18 and 15 and are out of town so i haven't gotten to spend any time with them.

more than theology, i've had conversations about politics and history.

i have learned more about communism and eastern europe in 4 days than i did in high school.

if i had to choose a political stance i would call it 'juli socialism':

i want people to want to love and give to one another.

sigh. i am an idealist.

and sitting back in my sociology classes i thought that marx was a pretty smart guy,

but being here i'm thinking again.

you can see the remains of communism here.

people are detached and there is this undercurrent i feel of anger and bitterness.

around 2/3 of the population is atheist,

and if i had to pick a word for prague it would be

RESIGNED.

these people have had catholicism, protestantism, communism, etc. all shoved down their throats and they've been told they better like it, or else.

and i think they're just...tired.

you can still see bombed buildings and bullet holes.

and yet the people i'm staying with are extraordinarily optimistic. 

their 'community' (if you could call it that) is comprised of individuals that only have one scheduled meeting a month in an art gallery.

other than that, they hang out whenever events arise: birthdays, parties, bbq's.

but it's a different place here and intimacy is a rarity. 

i feel honored just to have been let into these people's homes and into their stories.

and i am falling in love with this sad city.

the architecture, i'm told, is some of the best in the world and i believe it.

i have loved photographing prague and i will be sad to leave.

in addition, most of my anxiety about traveling alone is beginning to recede. 

for awhile there i thought i was going to have a full-blown panic attack and i've been unable to sleep right before i travel to a new city,

but several times now i've gone out and done things on my own.

and i haven't gotten lost once!!!

i am usually so very directionally challenged,

and so i'm proud of myself.

i really do feel like i'm turning into a big girl.

and it's hard to believe i've been overseas a month...

and still one more month to go.