Oh, and to respond to Jeff K's "scavenger hunt" comment...

Another Long Walk...

This time we set out for the Staré Město (Old Town Square) Market...we thought Saturday mornings were the times to get fresh fruit and vegetables, versus the souvenirs that are usually there. Instead we had it backwards and they have fruit and vegetables every morning EXCEPT Saturdays!!!! Oh well, it got us out of the house by 9am and we did buy some herbs. So from there we wandered to the square for espresso and then decided to make our way to "the Castle". We crossed the river and had lunch, well, actually only Ella had lunch, in Letná Park, which has a beautiful overlook of Prague. And then walked through the park to the castle. Wow! The sights we saw. Gorgeous! And we would love to show to them to you, but we brought our digital camera with dead batteries AND no memory card. So, we used Jeff's phone...unfortunately the photos didn't seem to turn out as well as the flower/Charles Bridge one he took. But we'll enclose a couple of the best.


Here is Ella and one of the scenic overlooks from Letná Park. There is this crazy gigantic metronome in this park, too. Why? Good question. Brings back very bad flashbacks of piano lessons for me, though.



This is St.Vitus's Cathedral within the castle grounds. Its gothic spires are what most people know as "the Castle" when looking at the Prague skyline. Although construction began in 1344 it sat unfinished for centuries, finally being completed in 1929. It was a spritual site even from pagan times and "Good King Wenceslas" (you know who I mean...from the Christmas carol...) is actually buried here.

It was another "I can't believe we live here" day in Prague! And now we are sipping some yummy Czech wine (except for Ella...she's in bed)...a lovely topper to a lovely day.

Dobrou noc! (Good Night)

Maylia (& Jeff & Ella)

Birthday Wishes From Home!



Thanks to Catharine, Erin, Sarita & Michelle for Ella's birthday flowers & Lindt chocolate bar.
It also came with entertainment...getting a completely Czech phone call...until help arrived..."You speak small Czech?" (Smaller than your English, ma'am!) All she had to say was, "Flowers" and I was onboard with whatever she needed from me!

And yeah, I realize I wrote "Home" up there. I about replaced it with Manchester, but hey, first thoughts are usually correct thoughts, right?

Sharing the Weather
Okay, I'll admit something here...I watch the weather. Both ours and back in Manchester, NH.
There are a number of things on my Google home page, some techie news, some world news, stocks, etc...and one to satisfy my weather curiousity.
Just before going to bed tonight, I noticed how similar our weather is for this week...temperatures, humidity, and wind are almost identical. Oh, there is one difference...I'll just post the screenshot.

(I can poke fun now, because in the winter, you'll be laughing back at us)

p.s. I have to select Dresden, Germany (about an hour's drive away) because Prague wasn't listed.

Spending a (Happy Birth)Day at the Prague Zoo
Took my first vacation day today. The Parker family went the Prague Zoo. As expected, Ella was pretty amazed at the animals. The zoo is pretty interactive, so it's full of stuff she'll enjoy more in later years. For now, her top moments were feeding sheep, or watching Dad feed sheep for her (sheep got some pretty sharp teeth, you know).

For any who don't know the story, I'll retell it here. May was eight months pregnant when I was out of town (on business), out in Las Vegas. Eric and I were at Yolies, the best Brazilian Steakhouse in town, and I had my phone on 'silent'. Not until after paying for the bill, did we notice the up-teen missed calls and voicemails from Michelle and May. By the time I had called, Jeff & Michelle had May at the hospital, water broken and 'ready'. A half second later, I was near useless and Eric took over. Eric drove us to my hotel to pack up, then straight to McCarran airport. Obviously the red-eye flight took forever, but I'm sure May & Michelle were more anxious, waiting for me. Rich Z picked me up at Logan and we went straight to the hospital (obviously). Ninety minutes later, we were parents. Give or take 10 minutes, that was exactly 1 year ago. So today to celebrate, we went to the zoo. :)

Here are a couple pics of our future zoologist...

I'm going to post one more picture from our walk yesterday. I took this picture with my work phone, so it's not too sharp. Anyway, I kept looking at this picture today at work, so I spent a few minutes learning how to get the picture off my phone. And here it is... We just crossed the Charles Bridge and we're back on the East side, looking back toward the Castle.
So, give it a click and check it out.


By the way, check out that there are at least 2 folks looking back at May. I can guarantee that they're looking at Ella wrapped up with May. The "cuddlewrap" gets many long stares; sometimes folks even come up and just start laughing and chatting with Ella. It downright funny...probably would funnier if we knew what they were saying....

THE LONG WALK CONTINUED......

So anyone that knows me knows that I don't give up easily. Here are the last 2 photos (still could not get them into the other posting, but anyway....)


We were obviously not the only ones with the Charles Bridge as a goal for the day. But it truly is spectacular and it was lovely to walk it with Jeff and Ella. Thunder kind of hurried us along, but I look forward to returning. So beautiful and so OLD...not 100, not 200 but more than 600 years old!


And everyone needs to touch the statue of St. John for good luck. I threw in a wish for good measure...can't hurt!






Well, as our blog mission states, we want to keep you updated on what we are doing and we also hope that this blog will help you to understand why we are doing it. The first part of our mission is easy to acheive....the latter is more difficult. They say pictures speak a thousand words....mission accomplished?

Good night!
Maylia (& Jeff & Ella)

TODAY WE WENT FOR A LONG WALK....HERE'S THE PHOTO EVIDENCE!!!!

The start (sort of) of our long walk. We are at the top of Wenceslas Square looking down away from the national museum. At one time this was a horse market. Note the funky looking sculpture - part of a temporary sculpture garden in the square....we actually saw it being set up the other day. We met our friend (and Jeff's coworker) Anna by the sculpture.



One view of the Old Town Square. There are many amazing sights to see here. This is only one glimpse. For more, book your flight!!!!


After lunch and icecream and some more roaming we parted ways with Anna for the "Parkers in Prague" had an important goal to acheive today...



Ella and I with the Vltava River and the Charles Bridge (our goal) in the background. You can also see the castle in the upper left. Jeff Klein knows all about Jeff not wanting to cross the Charles Bridge until he could cross it with Ella and me. Made for many a VERY long walk for those two when they were here apartment hunting. What can I say....Jeff is a hopeless romantic!




Jeff and Ella crossing a different bridge (not the Charles) with the National Theatre in the background. Those cables are for the trams....I haven't got up the nerve to ride those with Ella yet. You have to be fast and NO STROLLERS! (Same holds true for buses!)





Hmmm.... I had this completed with 2 more photos (plus witty commentary) and was just tidying it up a bit and lost the photos and text. Can't seem to fix it and it is late and frankly I am starting to get pretty cranky with this computer and this blog....so I am going to sign out and try to finish this up tomorrow. My apologies!!!!!!

Suffice it to say that we did make it to the bridge and it was outstanding.

Thinking of you all!
Maylia (& Jeff & Ella)

Happy birthday, Sandra!

Girls Napping
...and I'm browsing news on the web, updating my personalized Google homepage and waiting for the IKEA delivery guy to call (anytime between 8:00 and 13:00 here). Did I mention time here is that military format? Not 1:00pm, but 13:00; not 9:00pm, but 21:00. Takes some getting used to, but it's been a few years...
Got a new computer. Were using our eMachines laptop. Now, as of yesterday's purchase of a wireless card for the new PC, we're on the 'Net and styling. We're sharing the upstairs neighbor's wireless bandwidth (yes, legally and legitimately, sharing the bill with him and 2 other neighbors). We got on that Internet-sharing gig pretty quickly, since the Internet's fairly expensive for an individual. As far as the new computer, May was cool with me buying a new laptop back in the US, but looking at costs near $3000 for something really worthwhile made me change my mind. Instead, I chose to buy a new PC here. Sure, computers here are about 20% more than in the US, but a top end desktop is less than half as expensive than an equivalent laptop, so buying one here was well worth the wait.
...now, something I did not count on: Windows in Czech. Yup, from the "Start" button onwards, all menus, -everything -- all in Czech. I'll post a snapshot of what I'm seeing on the Start menu... The icons help a lot and some of my "navigating" is just by habit or knowing how far down the menu to go. But what's really catches me off guard is any error messages -then comes the dictionary.

--- someone's awake. later. -jeff

PHOTOS AT LAST!!!!



Ella at the beach in Pugwash, Nova Scotia.



The view of Manesova Street from our living room window.



Maylia and Ella at a fountain park in Munich, Germany.



Jeff in front of City Hall in Munich's Main Square. Can you find him?

IKEA is Swedish for "Some Assembly Required"
Anyone care to guess what we've been doing for the past four hours?
:)
Good night.

Munich Day
Today we went to Munich, Germany. Not on vacation, not for fun (at first), but for one purpose: to visit the Czech Embassy. As every country does, in order to file an application for (and pick up) a country's visa, you must do so outside that country. So, to file the long-term visa application for me, May & Ella, we had to file outside of Czech. Munich is the nearest and most popular one to do so at, so that meant:

• we got up at 4am
• in a taxi by 5am
• on a plane by 7am
• in Munich by 8am
• at our CZ embassy appointment for 11am
• done by 11:15am :)
• sightseeing until 4pm
• on a plane at 5pm
• back in Prague by 6pm
• Ella fed, bathed and asleep by 9pm

Revisit that if you didn't get the "tone of voice" ... we're tired. Very tired. Ella is a total trooper. But even 1-year olds have their limits. With the exception of the early morning taxi to the Prague airport, we did public transportation. Took little time to learn Munich's subway system, but we got a lot of help/directions to the CZ embassy (and to clean restrooms to change Ella!).

The highlight of the sightseeing portion of our day was the Main Square, including the beautiful gothic Rathaus (interesting that "City Hall" looks like "Rat House"...does this say something about the German's take on politicians or just coincidence?). We also took a quick peek at The Cathedral of Our Blessed Lady including climbing up to "onion domes" - ADDED in the 16th century! - to look over the city - stunning! Ella's favorite part of the day was playing in the fountain park across from the cathedral, though. That water was cold!

We promise there are photos to come...

Good night.

IKEA! That's where we spent the day...bought ALOT of stuff. Kinda weird to be starting from scratch. It's fun, too, though! I also had my introduction to the subway. Public transportation is very good here. I was near a children's play area while I was waiting for Jeff to arrange our order delivery at IKEA and I learned 2 valuable Czech expressions: Mummy is Mummy and bim bam is ding dong. These will get me far in life, I am certain! It is midnight and I must get some sleep. Goodnight all! Sweet dreams! May

WE MADE IT!!!! You'll all have to get used to new authors on the blog now. It was quite a trip and I am pretty exhausted. Ella is actually sleeping and it is going on 10am here. She was such a trooper!!!! We have to go shopping to start making our flat more comfortable so we need to wake her soon....so hard to wake a sleeping baby. The view from our window is lovely. Our flat is lovely! We will attach a photo soon. The hardest part of the trip was the last flight from Amsterdam to Prague...really not convenient with the car seat and stroller...bus from airport to plane...no preboarding....Ella was cranky...I was exhausted. A wonderful Australian woman helped us the last 100 yards to Jeff (although I could have done it...I had figured out how to line up the stroller with the luggage cart to that I could push both like a train - what a sight!) Thanks to Jeff and Michelle for figuring out how to handle all my carry-on luggage solo. The shower at the Amsterdam aiport was heavenly. I'm all set with airport and airplanes for awhile...oh yeah!-Munich on Tuesday! WOOHOO! Actually, I've never been to Germany so I am excited to go and Jeff will be responsible for Ella. OK! I am all over the place and we really must go. I will write more later. Love to all! May(& Ella & Jeff)

Ugh....2 more hours...
In Amsterdam, May & Ella have boarded their plane. It's another 90 minutes to here. I gave her as much detail as I could as far as what to expect at Schihol Airport, where to go/not to go, what to expect at the gate, etc... I'm sure the Manchester crew has helped at home, too.
All told, though, I can only imagine how tired she must be. Just a bit further now.
They'll arrive here (Saturday morning) at 8:30 am Manchester time (9:30 in Halifax/7:30 in Indiana)

It's gorgeous outside today. For the last two weeks, it's rained once -yesterday. From today until next weekend, the weatherman says it should be clear and sunny, so May's got that going for her (which is nice).

Went food shopping today at a place not far down the street. Hit a couple stumbling blocks that made me really wish I had studied harder in German (some 20 years ago). Seems to be a lot of German, especially on household goods, at least at one nearby place. Most everything else is in Czech, with occassional German or Russian, depending who's store you're in. Nearest Russian store happens to be street level, below our apartment.

Well, I'm heading out to the airport. Take care all, -j

"Hi Jeff, it's Jeff."
A few hours ago, I called Jeff K in New Hampshire and talked with May one last time before they start their flight to Amsterdam. Their flight leaves in under 2 hours, probably at the airport now; will likely leave long before anyone reads this.

Today's last day at Induction was as great as it gets. I would be surprised if some long-lasting friendships didn't start today. Topped off the week with (yet another) debriefing at the pub, this time a local one in Chodov right outside our work. In Europe, there are beer countries and there are wine countries; Czech is definitely a beer country. With Induction done, it's time to officially start work next Monday.

With the girls coming, it's time to clean up a bit...doing laundry now...will do some more food shopping tomorrow. Whoo-hoo!!

Induction Course Wrapping Up
I believe I've mentioned this week has been DHL's orientation week or "Induction". It's turned out to be the most fun I've had at a company in a long while. Besides the top brass giving us their strategy/history lessons, a field trip to the local hub at the Prague Airport and several team building exercises, we have also explored our personalities and examined cross-cultural differences. But today's activity topped it all. We divided the 17-strong class into three teams. Our team of 6 I would brag had the most fun. And as three Czechs, a Slovak, American and Uzbeki, we were almost as diverse as the other 2 teams.
As the team leader (elected against my will), I was briefed by our 2 course instructors. On purpose, the briefing was short and incomplete. I then briefed the activity to the team: one person would stay as "dispatch", while the other members will subway into downtown Prague. For three hours, dispatch would receive instructions from the instructors to ferry documents, parcels and envelopes around Prague. Turns out these instructions included bad addresses, impossible to meet deadlines and the instructors would say I've moved to "here" now. It all meant constant phoning back to Dispatch with corrections and updates.
Bottom line...there was no winning. No way to win, unless we three teams operated as one and broke their system. We didn't, but we all had fun losing.
Lastly each team had to give a 20-minute presentation, complete with photos of numerous things, e.g. evidence of any company's charter, company's commitment to customer satisfaction, etc...
Apparently this DHL scavenger hunt/delivery run is notorious throughout the Prague center. At a company party last night, once a person discovered you were in Induction, the very next question was "Have you done the delivery around Prague yet?" -accompanied by a deep laugh that made you shutter when having to answer "No, not yet." Finally, today it's "Yes! -What a great time..."

Anyway, 2 more sleeps and a wake-up. May is likely now off to Manchester, NH and her adventures have already begun.

Three more sleeps and a wake-up...
Tonight, I'm sitting in the Internet cafe, rotating like a carousal through laughing and crying, because May's dear Aunt Bet sent me the below pictures and then some. I guess the Kempt/Hiltz clan are celebrating Ella's one-year birthday. I'm very thankful May can celebrate with loved ones while she can, but all I can think about is...three more sleeps and a wake-up before the girls get here.

Today will no doubt go down in my personal history as the day I learned the most about 1960's British rock. I decided to join my Induction course instructor for a beer. Turns out my British instructor, now in his 60's, was a die-hard groupie of blues bands from the east side of London. He and a few other Brits that later joined us filled me in on how they used to enjoy watching the Yardbirds before they got big. The Yardbirds, as I learned, included some folks before they got their "break"...Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Page, once he became leader of his new group, then recruited John Bonham and Robert Plant, into what later became Led Zeppelin. The Czech beer and tales of 1960's concerts flowed equally fast. After several 1/2 liters of Gambrinus, I'm very ready for bed...but not before passing by the I-net cafe and updating this. It's only 9:15 and I'm exhausted yet again.
G'night.

I reread what I posted the other day about Maylia & Ella traveling a lot this weekend and early next week. I realized that I forgot to include Amsterdam, (just for a few hours -does that count?). So, ...
July 13 - in Canada
July 14 - in Manchester, NH
July 15 - somewhere over the Atlantic; Amsterdam, Netherlands
July 16 - in Prague, Czech Republic
July 17 - in Munich, Germany
Anyway, it just means May's going to be one very busy mom starting Thursday. I need to start thinking of how to make that July 16th point and thereafter, easier.

Big news from home (though a bit late): my college roommate Bill B. and his beautiful bride, Jane just had their third child, a boy ("finally") named John Matthew. I saw pictures today and he looks like quite the cute kid, even if he does resemble Bill at such at an early age. :) Maybe if I beg, Bill will let me post the "moon" shot here.

Had the first day of Induction training today at work...what a mammoth company DHL (and Deutsche Post) is. Incredible reach and diversity, but the US competitors (UPS & FedEx) are really giving them a run in the US. Elsewhere, they rule the roost, but in the US they got work to do.

Well, I'd write about my day, but I am absolutely starving, so ...see ya, -jeff

A sample of things I learned recently:

• people bring their own bags to grocers; else, you pay a little extra
• lightening can make the most beautiful gothic buildings even more beautiful
  
• even if the subway ticket inspector looks like a bum, when he flashes his badge you had better respond with your ticket
• If you're offered anything on Prague's Wenceslas Square on a Saturday night, "just say no"
  
• every country has different tasting beer and Snickers; Czech has great beer, but Korea had the best Snickers
• for me, when things are so different, I tend to long for the familiar and dependable (that's for Eric)
• days end with exhaustion more when abroad than home, even if you were lazy
• it's fun to order off the menu with no clue what you're getting...until you get it, then it might still be fun

FRIDAY!! ~~ WHOO-HOO!
(just 'cause I like my job doesn't mean I can't enjoy the weekend...)

Only major news today is I opened a bank account. Not a big deal at all, really. Too all of 20 minutes between 2 visits. One visit to fill out forms (with bank guy's translation help) and the second visit to pick up my bank card and account number. Now I can allow two countries to profit off my savings -Yes!!

Another absolutely gorgeous day here. After coming home from work, I relaxed by leaning out the living room window and ate a couple bowls of cocoa-puffs (or something close to it), just watching the street and sidewalk traffic. Nice viewing, but I'm not quite used to this 6-8% milk yet...makes for some real creamy cocoa puffs.

So, I actually will not work again until after May and Ella arrive. All next week I'm in "Induction course", the company orientation course for new hires. Couldn't do it this week with the two holidays.
"Looks like you've been missing a lot of work, Peter."
"I wouldn't say I've been missing it, Bob."

The Monday after May and Ella get here, we go to Munich to file for our long-term visas together. (Have to file out-of-country for a visa here...same for any country).
The way I see it, that's a pretty crazy schedule for May & Ella:
July 13 - in Canada
July 14 - in Manchester, NH
July 15 - somewhere over the Atlantic
July 16 - in Prague, Czech Republic
July 17 - in Munich, Germany
........For a kid that's not even one-year old...

-later

Thursday, July 6, 2006

Happy Jan Hus Day.

A lot's happened since my last post. For starters, I got here. May & Ella will arrive in 9 more days. Can't wait.
Given the short work-week, I've worked 2 days - and love it. Incredible position and role; my only 'complaint' would be the job's dresscode. Neckties are just upside-down nooses.

With a 2-week headstart on the girls, I'm turning our flat into a home. Most of what I've seen in Prague so far ends with a cash register. I like shopping but I'm more enjoying finding the right stores. I've gotten lost more than a few times in our neighborhood, just wandering, trying to remember where "that one shop" was.

Early priorities were an iron, basic cookware and toilet paper. Done with that. Now, the shopping list is longer, but just different foods. Now, the key challenge is packaging.
Next time you're at a supermarket, look at the packaging --try to figure out what a product is by the bottle shape, color or picture, not by words. Seeing a lemon on a plastic bottle could mean lemon juice or toilet bowl cleaner. Anything I can open and smell wins points. Just not enough clear bottles to make it easy. Thankfully, everything's cheap enough, so ...win some, lose some.

Found the organic food niche -- "Bio". When it's "Bio-...", it's free of pesticides, steriods, etc.

I thought I broke the washing machine and knocked off our gas yesterday. The landlord's building super was ...super-responsive. Got it fixed last night...turned out to be two circuit breakers, plus the washer's water input was turned off. When I ran the machine with no water, it popped the breakers for it and the in-line gas/water heater. I have to say a few words about building super, Mr. Hronik. When Jeff Klein and I met Mr. Hronik last month, he immediately introduced his daughter as the office's English speaker. He was obviously real uncomfortable even trying. Well, this week, his daughter is on holiday in Bulgaria (I think I understood him right). About Mr. Hronik, he laughs to himself when he tries to speak English. Like 5 seconds of giggling for every word, right or wrong. Getting someone to come by and look at my washing machine/gas issue made for a pretty funny phone call. He's great as a maintenance guy...

Went to IKEA yesterday - MASSIVE PLACE - and got a crib and crib mattress. They were delivered this morning and I put it together in 10 minutes. IKEA rocks...the crib assembly instructions were completely pictorial, not a word. The only written directions were in 17 (yes, 17) languages and said "Do not throw away the assembly instructions."

Enough for now...going food shopping. -Jeff