May, Ella & Mattias are back home

They landed back in Prague a few hours ago. What a great week in Bonn!

A few texts from May...

All okay. Kids slept from airport to home.
Starting laundry. Need groceries. Miss u 2.
30C here today! Our place is huge!

After having all of us in a 30m (320 sq. feet) hotel-serviced apartment for 10 days, May's happy to be home. Hungry but happy.

Jeff will post many, many pictures this weekend.

Drink & Drive - What a Country!


Many countries enforce their "no drunk driving" policy, maybe with road blocks, fines or mandatory breathalyzer tests. But those are all "punishment" incentives to enforce policy! How about a country that uses reward incentives ? Czech just got that distinction.


This week, Prague traffic police got some unwanted publicity for rewarding sober drivers during a road block. How? Distributing free, non-alcoholic beer when they found drivers to be sober. What a country.




Read more here:
http://www.praguemonitor.com/en/360/czech_national_news/24322/

Yes, We Know...No Pressure...

We've gotten a gentle reminder...where are the stories, the pictures? But no pressure. :)

May and kids are having a good time here, walking the river, visiting parks and local attractions like the Botanical Gardens and Museums, getting accustomed to Bonn lifestyle. But pictures must wait until we get back to Prague (no way to download them off the camera).
With no internet at our place, Jeff can only write this at work - so no long posts.
May and kids return Monday the 23rd. Jeff returns Friday the 27th. Odds are good that May won't get to writing online until after Jeff returns.

'Til then, no pressure!

Czech Us Out! - Blog's Translated

Under "Friends, Family Blogs" on the right, we've added a link to our own blog for our Czech friends who want to compare.
Automagically translated, thanks to Google, it requires no work from us. What a service!

Any other links to add?
-j

Friday ...again. Going home again.

Jeff here. May has zero time to write on here, so it's my turn again.

Suffice to say, I'm excited to see May and the kids. We keep in touch through texting (SMS) a few times a day and talk on the phone a few times a week. When we do talk on the phone, Ella usually hogs the call. Each time, it surprises me how well she can carry on a conversation, answering any question like she's had plenty of time to mull over her answer. What a cutie. Sometimes, though, maybe from holding the phone so tight to her cheek, she .... [click]

So I call back and we go again. It's all fun.

Earlier this week I took the U-bahn (underground metro) the 2 stops to a central Bonn stop Universitat Markt. Shameful, but it was my first time touring since arriving a month ago. I don't have a camera with me, so I'll steal a couple pictures from the web.

What I saw when I got out of the metro train...

Here's what I saw a minute later...

Here's where Bonn is in Germany.

Overview of Bonn 'skyline' (taller building is Deutsche Post/DHL Headquarters, with UN bldg left of it)

Here's the Mormon Tabernacle...

(Course, that last one is in Salt Lake City, having no relevance to me or Bonn ... just making sure you're paying attention)

All in all, Bonn's a pretty city. Interesting contrast of buildings, okay system of public transport, beautiful river Rhine/Rhein. I haven't seen much but May will...

May & kids coming!

Sure, I have no camera now, but no problem - May will bring the camera with her.

Yup, she and the kids are coming next Friday. We figure it's a chance for Maylia to get out of Prague. She'll quickly tell you she's not left even the city since October! The flat here is much smaller than our place, so it will be an interesting time; here's hoping for good weather. They stay for 10 days; I'll finally come home at the end of June. After just 2 more weeks - Michelle comes for a short visit before they all fly to North America. Wow - summer is here!