The Key

Thank you for your messages! It is good to hear from home! Come on over! I saw a ticket for $450, tax included! We met Aaron (Reyes) at the airport last night and are glad he is here for a couple of days.

The Key is symbolic of a country that has been oppressed and under a totalitarian government. We have four keys to our apartment, and have to unlock three different doors. Luckily the keys are color coded, but they don't just unlock -- you have to turn the key two or three times in one direction and two or three times in the other direction, click your heels, say and prayer, and then they work! (Unless its raining or you have your arms filled with bags.)The doors open inward instead of outward. All this "trouble" must have helped them feel safe -- no one could just sweep in. I feel like I'm entering a fortress. On the other hand, leaving is easy -- locks, no keys, and having to take the keys with me to unlock the next door keeps me from leaving them hanging from the first lock!

The Key is much like the hearts of the Czech people. They have learned to put up defenses in many ways so as to survive in a hostile environment. Now that they are free, the key may be keeping them prisoners, rather than safe. We wonder how EMTs and firefighters get to people who need help. And how do we get to people who need help in this beautiful city.

Day 12

We went to church at the Baptist Seminary here in Prague. It was a great service, excellent preaching and use of power point, enjoyable music, and I met the Academic Dean afterwards. I could see us living at this seminary and teaching here. Saturday we went to a seminar for ex-pats. It included the history of the Czech Republic, attitudes on the street, and problem solving. It was excellent. For example, we should not look at strangers, greet them, or speak to them. In the Czech Republic the only people who did that were informers. It is only permissable to acknowledge people on the street when we see them for the second time, and they are neighbors. This was hard for the southerners to take!

Friday evening 17 people from IICS met for dinner, prayer, and fellowship. Three families have been here a long time, and the other four have just arrived within the last month. There is an older couple from Hickory NC that has taken me under their wing, bless their hearts. We are now semi-skilled at using the tram, metro, and bus.

The weather continues to be sunny and warm, perfect for walking the streets.

Today I tutored a 6th grader at the International Christian School who is at a Grade 1 level in Math. All those Math manipulative exercises from Math Their Way started coming back!

One Week

Thursday, September 21. We have been here one week. Its amazing what we have learned in this short a time. We continue to use the two guidebooks to Prague that Donna Rietmann gave us. They are so valuable!! We also bought a map of Prague while in Seattle, and use that constantly.

Even though the washing machine and dryer are Whirlpool, and modern, I had to study the manuals to try to figure out how to run them. Also the toilets have two flushes, one that uses a lot of water, and one that doesn’t! We are getting in the habit of taking our shoes off at the door, and wearing house shoes. Almost everyone has a dog, so the sidewalks can be unhealthy!

Much of the culture shock for us is the same as if we were to move to Manchester or Portland, and give up having a car. Lots of walking, using bus, tram, and subway, finding a grocery store we can walk to and from, etc. City living! Compared to our home in New Hampshire where we get in the car without walking outside, it is culture shock!

Yesterday I spent the day at the International Christian School, grades 1-12. I will substitute teach there next Wednesday for the teaching principal who is going to an ACSI convention. She also asked if I would teach Tom Sawyer.

Last night four of us from IICS went out to a Czech restaurant. The food was delicious and we got to discuss crazy things like infant baptism, the Czech mind set about religion, etc. Two of the IICS people here graduated from Gordon College (’58 and ’60), one grew up in Everett MA, another got his doctorate at BU, another is from Eugene, Oregon.

Tuesday evening we had our first faculty meeting at UNYP. Most of the faculty are from the US. The university (University of New York in Prague) is affiliated with Empire State College in New York, so one of the administrators coordinates with ESC. The faculty meeting was similar to the many I attended in the past: a discussion of academic honesty and grade inflation (Is there anything new under the sun?) Afterwards we went to a café for wine and conversation. I ordered water. It didn’t taste like water, but the Czech faculty member sitting next to me told me that the Czechs pride themselves on their wonderful water.

So far so good.

The Wileys' Blog: Day 4

The Wileys' Blog: Day 4

Day 4

Monday we got our tickets for public transportation. This means bus, tram, train, and subway. We got 15 day passes and can go anywhere anytime on this pass. I visited the International Christian School and we talked about what I might teach. I walked about 4 miles!!!

We are here in Prague!

Saturday, September 16. We made it! Thank you for your prayers and for thinking about us. We had a great trip, both having aisle seats, so we could get up and walk around anytime during the 7 hours. Jose sat next to a young man who managed to tell Jose his life story before we got off the ground in Boston! A perfect seatmate for him.

We got to Frankfurt and it was daylight. We had to go through security again, which was inconvenient, but everything went fine.

We were met at the airport by Vladimir, who figured out how to get all that luggage in his small car, and fit us as well!!

Our apartment is beautiful and roomy. Well furnished and immaculate.

We have had many glitches, constant problem solving, (will share those later) but everything is working out great.

The City of Prague has decided to show herself at her very finest with warm sunny weather.

We have both found our schools and introduced ourselves to the people we will be with.

I am writing this from an internet cafe in an English speaking Coffeehouse, and have just spent 9 crowns (45 Cents) to write this message. You are each in our thoughts and prayers.

Lori and Jose

The Day Before

 We survived the "day before."
1. When we called to confirm our flight (48 hours in advance), the automated recording said our flight left yesterday! Ouch!!! When we got to a real person, he explained (very nicely) that the flight is a daily one and each day the flight is the same number, but we are indeed booked for the flight today, Wednesday. (Lower blood pressure here.)
2. The United representative explained that our ticket names needed to match our passports. Ooops! Passports match birth certificates. So what about Jose (on his driver's license), and Lori (on my driver's license?!) It worked fine for domestic flights, but my passport name is Glorilyn and his is Lance. So we got that taken care of. Luckily, they could have charged $100 for a change. (Lower blood pressure here. Thank YOU for your prayers!!!!!)
3. When we got everything in our luggage, we had room to spare (surprise!) but each piece was overweight by 10 pounds. Ouch! Its those darn textbooks that do it. (Loralee, could you please speak to text book companies, thank you?!) Also my files. I had gone through every lecture and put in handouts used in previous classes. Paper is heavy!!! Also we took our printer/fax/copier and two laptops. We HOPE we will be ok at the airport. Lloyd will come with us and take back whatever is overweight, or maybe we'll see Aaron, our son-in-law, who is flying out of Boston 3 hours later than we are, and we can talk him into bringing us the excess?
4. Teri McCarthy, the IICS staff, who helped with my placement, called me to pray together yesterday. I feel spiritually ready, am sure we have forgotten something we wish we had taken, but we are ready to stay up all night tonight, arriving a little before midnight in Frankfurt, a 3 hour layover, then an hour to Prague! Our landlord has arranged for Vladimir to be there with a Wiley sign to meet us and take us to the apartment.  Tomorrow morning in Prague!
5. Dad and I spent a couple of hours together yesterday. I'm going to miss him, and he won't even know I'm gone!!!

Two Days til Departure!

We have suitcases covering every square foot of our house as we lay out what we plan to bring, and try to fit it all in our six pieces of luggage! What to bring and not bring, that is the question! 

Apartment

 We met with the professor who is renting his apartment in Prague to us. He grew up in Connecticut so was home for his mother's 70th birthday celebration. We went to Hartford to meet him. He lives in Texas and teaches at Texas Tech. He gave us keys to the apartment, as well as a cell phone that works in Europe. He is going to arrange for us to be met at the airport and taken to the apartment. That is convenient! He answered many questions we had.
He takes 20 college students from his university to Prague each summer, and teaches a course at the University of New York in Prague. So he is well versed in answering questions from novices like us.
We are so blessed to have this arrangement!