Welcomings!

Hello! I have been spending the last day getting off of flights and getting acquainted with my new home and new friends. My flights were perfect, considering they were only delayed a little bit, instead of cancelled outright like the last time I flew abroad.

While waiting in Dulles airport, I had the pleasure of making friends with a little Bulgarian girl and giving my first English lesson! She and her father were returning home to work in the family store by the Black Sea. This little girl, whose name I unfortunately do not know, was so excited to show me an electronic keyboard that her dad bought in Disney World. When you push a letter, this pink contraption sings it out and says a word that begins with the letter. We were having so much fun with the keyboard, and soon two other children wanted to join us. Unfortunately, my new friend decided she was shy with other children, and promptly ignored them while they played with the keyboard. With only a few minutes left before the plane began boarding, this girl had learned the letter "k" and "kiss" and the letter "a" and "apple", and how to count to five. It is amazing how quick kids can pick these things up.

I felt so fortunate to have two friends meet me in Prague Airport. Shane is my supervisor, and he came over from Slovakia to help me set up. Rachel is a newly on-board personnel who came from an hour away so that I would know another friendly face.

After a lunch of traditional Czech food—dumplings, cream soup, and pork and cabbage in more ways than you thought pork and cabbage could be done—at a non-traditional Czech price—all you can eat, a rareity outside of the US—we were off to Lito. I was so glad that I could ride in the car with Shane instead of taking the train, because the side of every road is currently choking with red poppies. I would have been sorry to miss such a welcoming sight after such a long trip.

My two Czech supervisors, Martin and Robert, met us at Bethel Ministry’s building. They were kind enough to make me coffee, as the time was quarter after unGodly for my six hours behind internal clock. We all got to know each other by talking about European Baptist life, travel anecdotes and of course, the Czech Republic. Both Martin and Robert were surprised to know that I had heard of Jan Hus, who I hope you all remember (from an earlier post) started the Reformation in the Czech lands. They were also kind and patient while I tried to stumble through the Czech phrases that I thought I knew.

Many people whom I have met here are surprised when I try to say something in Czech. A recent high-school graduate that I met last night was surprised that I wanted to come to the Czech Republic at all, since America is “so rich.” It is amazing that I can see already, on my second day here, how much goodwill a traveler can establish with locals of a country simply by being interested in that country. This begs the question, “why would you go to a country if you are not interested in it?” I think many travelers are interested in the art and buildings and food of a foreign country, but not necessarily the people and the culture. Culture is much more than what you can take a picture of. When you go to a new place, consider learning more than just “hello” and “thank you” in the native language, although those words are good starting points. You will get a better return for your effort than you thought possible.

So far I can say nothing completely or correctly, but I can garble out an appropriate greeting for the time of day, tell someone it was nice to meet them, and ask for a towel. The last one has not been necessary, since Bethel and the field personnel were gracious enough to see to all my needs before I arrived, but that hasn’t stopped me from saying it several times, just to show that I know an entire phrase. Hopefully I will grow out of this phase when I have learned some new phrases.