Kutna Hora

This past Sunday Tom and I went on a day trip to Kutna Hora! We took a train with a group of 6 other friends. We began with The Church of Assumption of Our Lady and St. John. This church is a Baroque Gothic style church built around 1300. In 1421the church was burnt down by the Hussites, it remained in ruins for the next two centuries. In 1700 they decided to rebuild the church to what it is today. This church is part of the UNESCO world heritage list.

The second church we visited is called the Sedlec Ossuary also known as The Bone Church. This is the most famous church in Kutna Hora. This church has bones of over 40,000 people on display. They began to artistically decorate this church with bones in 1511 and then did a reconstruction in the 1800s. We were excited to see this church to see what it was all about but as soon as we walked inside we instantly felt a strange feeling in our stomachs. It was hard to believe that these were real bones of people from so long ago. I also struggled with the reasoning of why people would use the bones of humans to decorate a church. Although it was a little disturbing it was absolutely a must see!

Finally, the last church was St. Barbara. As soon as we started walking up to this church it instantly had a large presence. The church was massive and the church grounds were beautiful. This is one of the most famous Gothic style churches within Central Europe and is also a UNESCO world heritage site. The construction of this church began in 1388 and after many interruptions was finally finished in 1905.

*** To see more photos from the trip you can click on this link- https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos

Or you should be able to click on the slide show on the bottom right hand side of the blog and it should bring you to the online web albums for each church!

Settling In

Ahoj!

We are officially Prague residents! This last week we moved into our apartment on Cimburkova street in Prague 3. Within our immediate area we have a lot of restaurants, small markets, bars, and our favorite cafe, Cafe Pavlac, right up the street! (If you are one who plans to come visit you can expect to have a meal or two there:) ) We are so lucky to have an amazing roommate who also happens to be from Minnesota! She is so great, she got TEFL certified through the same company and that's how we met. We are excited for the memories to come!

 

      

After only a week in country, I somehow managed to get an amazing job and started this past Monday! I will be working at ABC Academy, only a few tram stops away from my flat. I will be working 9-3 everyday which is wonderful! I am lucky to have a position that does not require me to travel so I can optimize my time and be paid for over 30 hours of teaching time. (Most companies require you to travel around the city and you do not get paid for travel time.) I will be working with a group of seven- four year olds. The school is a full English emersion program which is wonderful and the staff is amazing! I feel so fortunate to have them as friends and for support throughout my abroad teaching experience! Another amazing thing about this school that they go to camp 2-3 times a year. Starting Monday I will be on a bus heading to ski camp with 19 little ones. It blows my mind that they bring 3 year olds on a week long ski trip in the mountains! We rent out a cottage for 5 days and we have an Czech woman cook all of our meals. I cannot wait to try authentic Czech food and spend the week skiing...or trying to ski;)

Now that we have spent a significant amount of time away from The States, the cravings have started. Things we miss: Goldfish, Potato Oles, Doritos, Reese Peanut Butter Cups, beef jerky, peanut butter, Cheez Its, flavored pop (I have drank enough 7 up to get me through the rest of my life), and HOME COOKING. By the way our address is... ;)

Tom Buskey/ Lauren Manderfeld
Cimburkova 588/11
130 00 Praha 3
Czech Republic

Ringing in the New Year

Happy New Year! I can't believe that it is already 2016! Where does time go? We had quite an interesting New Years to say the least. Jet Lag had gotten ahold of us and wasn't letting go. We were so tired but knew we would regret not doing something to bring in the new year. I mean we are in Prague, we had to suck it up! We ended up walking a few miles to meet up with some friends we had met. We walked to Letna Park, which is a large park in Prague 7 that over looks the city. It was filled with thousands of people all of which were lighting off their own fireworks. It blew our mind how many people had professional grade fireworks and set them off wherever they wanted, with no regard to where people were standing. As the new year approached the fireworks got more frequent. As the clock struck 12, the energy throughout the city was indescribable. Everyone popped their bottle of champagne, lit off their fireworks, and smooched their loved ones. We felt so lucky to be apart of such a magical moment! If you are looking for a New Years like no other I highly suggest Prague!

Here is a video from NYE from the park overlooking the city. as many of you know pictures and videos sometimes cannot do justice but its a start! This is not a video we took, we used one from YouTube (We were too busy celebrating to get a good video!)

https://youtu.be/UjnEmt8CHp0