Well, here we are again


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August 31st 2012
Published: September 1st 2012
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The View From One of Our WindowsThe View From One of Our WindowsThe View From One of Our Windows

On sunny mornings we can see the sunrise.

In Prague Again --



Here we are at IBTS in Prague again and if all goes as we hope we will be here until May 28th, 2013. The trip went well. In fact it was as easy as any trip we have made from the States to Europe. Both of us were able to sleep on the plane as it winged its way across the Atlantic and we felt pretty good when we arrived at Heathrow in London.

At Heathrow we had to change terminals, from terminal 5 to 3. On the British Air web site it said that the minimum requirement was 90 minutes. It took us only about an hour and our transit would have been faster if their magic machine had not kicked our backpack with our prescription medicines to one side for inspection. That would have been accomplished quickly except they had only one person who was checking such 'suspicious' bags and he was having to do it for several security lines. He spent a long time going through everything, and I mean everything, in a woman's carryon. After checking all the items in her bag he used an wand to check for drugs in
Nancy reviewing material for her first classNancy reviewing material for her first classNancy reviewing material for her first class

Officially she meets her new students Monday, September 3rd.
every inch of her bag inside and out. Once he saw that all we had that made our bag 'suspicious' were liquid prescription eye medications, he waved us on.

By the time the predicted minimum of 90 minutes was up we had changed terminals, gone through security and eaten a sandwich. It is always a relief when things go more easily than expected. We had accumulated an entire handfull of half-pennies, pennies, new pennies, 5, 10 and 20 pence coins as well as one 5 pound note. To pay for our sandwiches and a drink Nancy handed the clerk all the coins and said, "I counted and there are 11 pounds here but you may want to double check." Our bill came to something like 9 pounds and 70 pence. She very carefully used the maximum number of individual coins to rid us of the weight and came out with a number such that our change involved only ONE lone coin. We now have the 5 pound note and about 4 coins instead of a mass of British money weighing more than you would enjoy carrying in your pocket! Hurrah for helpful British clerks.

The flight from London to Prague was faster than scheduled as we had quite a tailwind. This put us into Prague a few minutes early. Speaking of relief, it was a relief when our three checked-through suitcases appeared out of the bowels of the terminal and we were able to exit into the waiting area quickly.

Then seeing the smiling face of our friend, Norbert, waiting to drive us to IBTS made us even happier. Norbert was the first student whose Master's thesis Nancy did the proofreading for many years ago. He is now married to a wonderful Czech woman named Katka who is the assistant to the Rector of the seminary and they have two adorable children. We got more hugs and greetings when Parush met us at Reception and already we felt totally at home. Soon we were in our room unpacking and getting ready for the days ahead. Vladko, my best student and the 'man-who-can-fix-anything' showed up shortly to hug and greet us and give us a pretty scented candle/lamp from Radka the lady who keeps all the linen clean and prepares breakfast in the morning. We were so touched that she knew we were coming and had gone shopping for something lovely to brighten our room. Later we had some of Vladko's home grown tomatoes and cucumbers for our evening meal along with good food that our friend Debbie had bought and put in our room. She also had decorated the window with two kinds of flowers.

Before we decided to call it a day and go to bed, I (Nancy) announced we needed to do some walking. This lead us to various encounters along the way and more hugs. Oksana, a very dear student of my last time here, was working in Reception for the evening hours and I could not be happier than knowing she is going to be here along with Ludmilla and Denys. Alex will not be here much this year as he has been unwell so that is sad news. Viktoria is still in the library but will be married in two weeks which will give her a new name and a husband! So, with a good hug from Lina we went back to have a nice sleep.

Then at 0:20 we both woke up! I decided to try to finish unpacking our boxes which we had stored here. Billy decided to try to go back to sleep. Useless! He got up in about 5 minutes and together we got everything in order except for the items in our small rolling shelf which fits in the bathroom. At 3:00 we ate a breakfast of Kefir and museli which Debbie had provided and slept till the alarm rang at 6:30. Unusual night but very productive. We will write more later about breakfast #2 and the first full day back here in our home in Prague.

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1st September 2012

Glad
Glad that your trip was so easy. I know it was such fun meeting old friends and feeling so welcome. Bill's lead extraction is scheduled for October 25 and Shannon will come and stay through the weekend. Looking forward to more vicarious trip with you.
1st September 2012

Glad you had a safe trip
Good to hear from you again. I enjoyed our visit on the phone before you left. Enjoy your stay and keep sharing your experiences. We had a category 1 hurricane named Isaac blow through on Thursday and had a lot of rain. Fortunately, there was no major damage around here. The folks in the New Orleans area and MS Gulf Coast did not fare too well with 20" of rain in less than 24 hours. Look forward to hearing from you again. Virginia
1st September 2012

Hurrah for hearing from you again
Thrilled to hear from you and see both of you happy, healthy and enjoy your life!
3rd September 2012

Nice to hear from you.
All sounds like you are content and things are going well. I'll pass this info along to the class. Hot and humid here with rain expected for a few days.
3rd September 2012

Did not get to say goodby! Enjoy your time and I'll enjoy reading your words again. You both are great role models. Thank you.
5th September 2012

Well, here we are again
So glad to know you're there & everything went so smoothly. It's so nice for you to have seen so many you know when getting there. Be watching for the next blog.

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