Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Not to mention every other kind of transportation...

Let me preface this whole blog thing by saying - I am really terrible at these things. I would much rather tell you in person about my experiences, but given that I am 3,000 miles across the ocean, I suppose this is most sensible. If you want to know the guts of my time in Brno, let's get coffee (tea for me, please!) when I get back to the states and chat it up. Until then, these meager words are all I can offer....

So now, where to start? Though I've only been here 25 hours (well, on this adventure for almost 48 hours) the United States feel like a lifetime away. But I'll start there anyways...

Saturday 31 January 2009 4:30 pm EST Philadelphia Airport
All checked in and through security without a hitch. Definitely not what I was expecting. The next hour and a half is devoted to numerous phone calls with the ones I love. Mostly Sam, but others as well.
6:10 pm Same day
On the plane, seated in the middle section, middle seat between two non-English speaking gentlemen. And I say gentlemen because they were. They were kind enough to assist me with my luggage and put up with my blanket. (yes, the wolf blanket HAD to come!) Once I finally got myself situated and all tucked in, the next 8 hours were a blur. I literally slept from the moment the plane pushed off (before we were actually airborne, even) to the moment we landed. I missed the meal, all snacks, any drinks, and I have no clue what sorts of entertainment were provided. It was wonderful. (Though I was quite hungry by the end of it all). From Philadelphia I flew to Frankfurt, where I had to walk miles and miles to my gate and go through all sorts of security and customs and hoops and what-have-yous. At one point, the security guy found my half-full (yes, half-full!) nalgene (which i had completely forgotten about) and kindly asked me to dispose of it. Down my gullet. Feeling rather nervous and a little jumpy, I downed the rest of the water in one big gulp. Fast enough that the security guards eyes doubled in size and I'm pretty sure he actually chuckled. I was glad to bring a little lightness to the mood. :) Once I finally arrived at the gate, I soon fell asleep and embarassed myself with a large pool of drool and I'm pretty sure I probably talked in my sleep (I was dreaming about being in that same place playing with a little kid - imagine my surprise when i realized it was a dream and people were staring at the strange American girl and her wolf blanket!)
The flight from Frankfurt to Prague was uneventful (Big surprise - I slept the whole time). Once in Prague, the adventure heightened. From the Prague airport, I needed to get on bus 119 to the metro station where I was to ride Line C to the Muzeum stop and transfer to Line A to the train station, buy a train ticket and board the train destined for Brno. It seemed easy enough... Until I picked up my luggage. Two big bags and two small bags and a wolf blanket was not a good idea. I don't know what I was thinking. Basically, I built up every single muscle in my body. The journey was fairly straightforward (except for the part where, in my eagerness to be on the train I forgot to buy a bus ticket and the czech police fined me...) and I made it to the train station in pretty good time. It took me a few tries to find the ticket booth and purchase my ticket, and about 20 minutes to finally realize the train I was looking for wouldn't be arriving for another hour. So I sat and watched the pigeons swarm every inch of the place, regardless of whether or not it was already occupied.

Once I finally boarded the train (luckily it was the right one!) I became enthralled with all the passing villages and snow-covered hills. Believe it or not, snow can be quite beautiful from the window of a train :) By the time I arrived in Brno, I was more than ready to drop my bags and find my bed. Unfortunately, that was not possible. I endured a frigid 60 minutes in the snow and the open curiousity of a local bum while waiting for my tutor to meet me after which we rode tram after tram after tram to the bottom of what one might lovingly call the "Vinarska Hill of .." well, you get the picture. Fast forward past another hour of paperwork and you get to meet my new roommate for the next 3.5 months - Magda from Poland. Magda is so wonderful(ly hilarious!). She studied here last semester and loved it so much she is in the process (90% there!) of extending her stay through this semester. She is a lover of Christ, abstainer of alcohol, and basically the biggest blessing God has given me in this journey thus far. We get along great and though she talks more than I can keep up with (she is so excited about getting to practice her english with me!) I love her enthusiasm and desire to enjoy life. I'm excited to learn more about her and become better friends over the next while.

Since this is already turning out to be a novel, I will cliffnote todays events:
Woke up with a terrible stomachache ("The water certainly won't make you sick, drink up!")
Decided to get over it and attend day 1 orientation
Embarassed myself in the middle by having to run from the room to the nearest restroom
Embarassed myself even more by not knowing how to flush the toilet full of my regurgitated Polish yogurt (gross, I know..)
Decided to return to orientation smelling simply wonderful ;)
Took care of a LOT of business
-Joined the international student club (free sim card with 200czk worth of talk/text time, not to mention free entrance to all the hoppin parties (woohoo.)
-Czeched in with the Check police (strike that, reverse it) and luckily wasn't deported due to my lack of a visa (which, thank you Jesus, is currently ready and waiting for my passport to adhere itself to!)
-Ate my first authentic czech meal (cafeteria surprise - literally. we had no clue what we were ordering) Ended up with a plate of fried fries (french fries, i suppose?) and fried pork. Gotta love fried food when your stomach is in the habit of rejecting anything and everything... We won't talk about the result of that one.
-Had my first experience with Tesco (basically the greatest invention ever created) where I purchased an ethernet cable (whoops, forgot to bring that one!), a towel (that, too..), some dishes, and a few basic grocery items (pb&j anyone?)
-Bought a transportation pass (helloooo free metro/bus/tram for the next 3 months. probably the second greatest invention)
-Registered for classes
-Began the process of opening a Czech Bank Account (to be continued tomorrow...)
-Bought a phone for my sim card! Now I can call all the hundreds of friends I made today... :/

Goals for the rest of this week:
-Make some friends
-Try not to be sick anymore so I can make friends
-Learn how to get to the Faculty of Arts building, where all my classes will be ("You just get on bus 25, get off at that place where we passed earlier, get on the tram...")
-Find some better Czech food and successfully eat it
-Make some friends so I can have people to call

Okay this is sufficiently long enough. If you've made it this far, thank you for trying to care about me and my life. I really do appreciate it. Almost as much as I appreciate your prayers! God is so faithful and has already blessed me more than I can fathom here in Brno. I am so excited to find ways to share Jesus with my (future) new friends as well as be a light in the darkness of downtown Brno. I don't really remember where I read this, but I read the other day that mission work is not about bringing Jesus to people. It's about showing them that Jesus is already there and has been there the whole time. I get to be a tour guide to the people of Brno - pointing out to them where God has been lovingly waiting for them to notice him. I am the luckiest person. (Not to mention I get to marry the most amazing and encouraging and loving and caring and handsome man God has created! ...sorry for the cheese. I am just really excited about that :)

And with that,
grace
and
peace
to you my brothers and sisters
i love you all, even 3,000 miles away.