Update on Ella's Pox

Ella is doing well, despite how she looks. While in the bath, she's a bad connect-the-dots puzzle. Out of the bath, she's coated neck to legs in tukety pudr lotion (local version of calamine lotion).
Her spots are mostly on her torso with just a few on her scalp and face. Thankfully, none in the mouth or throat, like some other stories we've heard.

So overall, she takes it in good stride for most of the day. We think it's partly because she's still so young, as older kids usually have it rougher with chicken pox. Only occasionally she has a meltdown for little apparent reason other than being overtired from fitful sleep.

Bedtime is when things turn bad. Without any distractions or playing, Ella has only the itchiness on her mind. The last couple nights it takes Maylia sitting up in bed, with Ella in her lap to sooth Ella to sleep. Through the night, Ella get fitful and wakes a few times needing mom or dad to calm her down again. For the last several days, Mattias has slept in our bedroom to minimize waking him any more than his teething does already.

Just talked with Maylia - today sounds like a good day. "Ella mood suggests she is on the mend."

-Jeff

p.s. By the way, Happy Halloween!!

Goings-On: Pox, Parade and Teeth

Since Ella got quite spooked at a Halloween party last year, we have spent the last few weeks getting Ella so ready and excited for this year's, not 1, but 2 Halloween parties. We've practiced saying "trick or treat," talked how everyone gets to wear funny costumes, and of course decided (a few times) what Ella's costume will be.

Then this morning's visit to Ella's pediatrician confirmed our fears: chicken pox.
Big, big bummer.

We counted around 30 spots on her back and belly before yesterday's bath, more than twice from the day before. Tonight, for each one she had yesterday, she's got at least 3 more, spread all over. Puts a lump in the throat just looking at her.
She's not a happy camper (massive understatement!!!), especially when trying to sleep.
Mattias will soon follow; we're rather looking forward to getting it out of the way.

For Halloween this Friday, we now plan to prop up a few dummy ghosts and goblins behind our bedroom/bathroom doors and closets. We'll all dress up and walk through, collecting treats from our one-night spooky flat mates. May sound pathetic at first (and it is), compared to our original plans, but hopefully we'll make a memorable Halloween out of it.

Teeth
A little bite of news. At 10 months, Mattias is finally getting some teeth -and wasting no time with it. He got his first one Saturday. His second one came yesterday. And a third popped out today. The fourth one is all but broken out. All this and Ella's pox explains some fitful nights sleeps lately, for all.

Parade
Czech Republic celebrated when Czechoslovakia was first founded (28 October 1918). Not the normal public holiday this year, being the 90th anniversary. In fact, Czech government decided on having a full military parade - the first since before the revolution, the first since 1985. The parade went down Evropska street, the wide, main street connecting Prague to the airport.
Soldiers of all sorts, tanks, rockets, police and fire brigades - it was quite a show. Grippen fighters flew overhead, but the cloud cover made them only heard, not seen.
Speaking of cloud cover, it was raining if not pouring the whole time. The stroller's fantastic cover kept the kids dry, until Ella spent 15 minutes on dad's shoulders to watch the procession.
But between the rain and Ella not being her best (and looking back, we now know why), we managed only the procession and decided against a "yester-year" expo of sorts in the downtown squares. More info at this link here.




Cadets (aren't they cute?) - in front of a big Tatra truck!

These banners were everywhere, showing how often Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic "evolved" over just 90 years.
1918 - Czechoslovakia started
1938 - Czechoslovakia lost 1/3 of itself as appeasement to Hitler
1948 - Czechoslovakia Socialist Republic, as satellite state to Soviet Union
1968 - Czechoslovakia getting too liberal, so Soviet Army invades
2008 - today, quite a different place.

1989 - the year of the velvet revolution is conspicuously missing. Maybe it didn't make the cut since the year doesn't end with an "8"?

'Tis the Season...
for mailing packages

With the holiday season pretty much upon us, there are some back home who are generously planning to mail us packages. For those of you who do not know, since our move to our new flat, we have had many packages go missing. In fact, a very sad part of being home was talking to folks and hearing over and over again, "You didn't get the package we mailed, did you?" This is a shame. It means that you spent time and money getting us a gift, time and money mailing that gift, and then we never received the gift. Ugh!

So, what's happening?!? Well, more than likely these packages are being stolen at the post office. It is also possible some are being lost. We don't have much faith in our new post office. We had heard horror stories of packages stolen, but never had a problem with our former post office. Unfortunately, the post office in our new neighbourhood seems to be less organized and less honest.

What can we do? Of course, we'd tell you to just not send anything...as it may not be worth the risk...but we know that some of you just won't listen! So, here are some ideas to help packages make it to us safely.

1. If possible, send it in a padded envelope. The "post lady" is more likely to deliver these to us or try to squash it in our mailbox, rather than leave it sitting at the post office for us to pick up (or for it to be stolen). She has to carry the package around with her and then if we're not here, carry it back to the post office. She's more likely to do that with an envelope than with a bulky box.

2. When filling out customs forms, be creative. Don't lie, but don't make the package sound enticing, either. Children's clothing and toys, for instance, are very expensive and sought after here. We once had a baby blanket stolen out of my stroller that was locked up inside our apartment building! Instead of "children's clothing", you could write "fabric".

3. Insure your packages. So at least you can get money back if they don't make it to us.

4. Tell us when you mail something. I am going to do my best to make friends with the "post lady" so that she knows that I know something is on its way. I don't think she is the culprit but from what my friends say, with her on our side she will keep a look out for our packages and help them get delivered to us. (Also see number 1.)

5. Order gifts and have them mailed to us. So far we haven't had any of these go missing...at least not that we know of...

6. Don't be afraid to ask. I know it's weird to ask about a gift you sent. No one wants to feel like they are looking for a "thank you". But, in this case, it is OK. PLEASE, if you haven't heard from us, don't hesitate to ask us if we received your package. We are pretty good about sending out "thank yous", so if you don't hear anything, just ask!

7. Cross you fingers and hope for the best. That's what we're doing.

Thank you!
Maylia

Erin - We Miss You!

Jeff K, This Is For You
Figuratively speaking only...sorry.


Of course, there was no prying that one from Ella's hands, so we had to get a few extras. :)

Erin's Here!

May and kids picked up Erin at the airport this afternoon.   Flight was smooth and 

Typical for visitors after the long journey, they had a low-key first day.

Erin and all went to Letna Park, the playground, toured the metronome, taking in the fantastic view of Prague below.

After Jeff got home from work, we made tacos for dinner (easing Erin into Czech food very slowly).  And, to make sure Erin slept well her first night here, we enjoyed a few glasses of burchak, the cider-wine.

More stories to come for sure.  Good night!

"Hey, you're American. Why do...?"

Jeff here. Got a small rant to give.
Being an expat (living outside your country) brings challenges, apart from adapting to another culture, food & language. One fun challenge is getting asked questions, as if we could speak for our whole country. Expats who read this blog include our close friend, Kit in Korea and Jeff's sister, Jeannine in Saudi Arabia.

How much we immerse ourselves depends on factors like, whether a spouse is 'local' (as in Kit's case) or if we work & reside in an area designated for expats (Jeannine's case) or just motivation to find "change" (as I'd call our case).

But I can guarantee that in all cases, we get asked many questions the local people have about our own country. Early questions, most questions compare lifestyles: "What do you eat?" or "What was your house like?"
Some tougher questions require tact before answering: "Is it true you must pay for university?" or "Who voted for him...twice?"
Such questions are usually fun to answer and can get great conversations started, friendships developed.

Then there are times like this, when questions can get tough to answer without getting angry.
I just got asked "Is it true that the insurance company (AIG) got $85 Billion, then their senior management expensed a week-long resort holiday, then asked for another $37 Billion, and is now planning another resort holiday?"
I was dumbfounded. I had no clue how to answer. I still don't. In fact, at first, I (foolishly) denied it, without knowing any of the facts. "No way, that can't true..." Yup, it's true.

In summary and I added links:
1. AIG makes bad investments
2. Company execs make millions
3. Stock gets wiped out
4. Company gets wiped out
5. Billions lost
6. Company and execs get $85 billion bailout
7. Execs and sales force go on $400,000 weekend retreat
8. Congress cries OUTRAGE!
9. They ask for and receive another $38 billion
10. Execs and sales force plan another retreat

Of course, people recognize such boondoggling is not limited to AIG's execs. And the recession is not limited to the USA. Asia is hurting. Europe is hurting. The whole mess is on everyone's front doorstep and people are searching for both the reason and resolution. With questions like these, we lose hope for both.


p.s. Yes, I actually used the word "boondoggling". That's funny. W.C. Fields would be proud. :)
For reference, watch this great Fields movie opening (or skip to 2:46 if you're impatient)

Ella & Mattias in Pictures, part 1

When we don't know what else to write about, we just post pictures.
To start, a couple cute pictures of them we snapped over the past couple weeks.



Little britches is starting to pull his weight around the his house.
Been meaning to post this for a while. Ella is clearly a Patriots fan, still not following any local teams!

Watched The VP Debates

The most hyped debates in ...well, at least 4 years. :) Jeff had to watch them.

Watching them (streaming on NY Times' website) meant Jeff got up at 2:45 this morning (yes, 2:45 AM) to watch the debates from 3:00-4:30.
Thankfully, Maylia convinced him at 5 to come back to bed for a bit of sleep. [thank you, honey]

Was it worth it? Yes.
Looking forward to the 2 other VP debates? Yes.
Did Ella go to bed an hour earlier the night before? Yes.

Eric sent me a link to a documentary about debates. It's fun to watch.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/debatingourdestiny/

Great clips from debates since 1976, such as...

• "Governor, there you go again."
• "I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
• "I will not make age an issue for this campaign. I will not exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience." (hint: speaking about Mondale!)
• "Are there personal differences? Well, my blood pressure's lower, my weight, my cholesterol. But I will not make health an issue in this campaign."
• "The man's practicing fuzzy math again."

If you need any reminder who said what, check out the documentary.

Update: Yes, Snickers, Too.

Sorry, Kit.
Sorry, Korea.
Sorry most of all to Korean Snickers, Jeff's all-time favorite treat.

An update to the earlier post.

Finally Jeff got worried and did some research. Sure enough, Jeff's digs around a few articles and finds out that even Korean-made Snickers are also considered unsafe. Damn.

The last paragraph in a recent article about South Korea's Food and Drug Administration:
"Popular food products branded by multinational companies and imported to other Asian countries have also been found to contain melamine. Indonesian food regulators said they found melamine in Snickers candy bars and M&M’s, both of which are made by Mars, Inc. The KFDA (Korean Food & Drug Adminstration) said that most of the Mars products imported into South Korea are believed to have been made at the same plants in China."

And just in case family back home may worry, Jeff selfishly keeps his Snickers stash away from Ella.
In fact, Ella has only once sampled a Snickers bar (documented September 2007. Pic below).










Tonight, Jeff will finish the rest of his Snickers stash, before they have a chance to fall in the wrong hands.

p.s. If a few readers are wondering "What on earth is Jeff talking about...he eats Korean Snickers in Czech Republic??" Yes. They've always rocked, always will (even with this supposedly dangerous melen-blah-blah in them). The Snickers Taste Test of May 2007.
Thanks to Kit, our dear friend and fellow English teacher, she regularly keeps Jeff stocked.
Kit - as much as I hate to say it, please send no more. (for now...heehee)