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!