Prague

The Czech Republic is a special place for Hubby and I.  It is the place that we met 10 years ago.  It is the reason that we are back here for Christmas this year; to remember where our relationship began.

We have been in Prague for the last three days and while it has been fabulous, it has been hard to fully enjoy because I have been sick.  We were able to get around to see most of the sights that one should see when visiting Prague, but, it was more difficult than usual.  The kids were great the first day, then yesterday, I could tell they were tired of walking around to look at things, so, we headed back to the hotel to let them play.

A lot has changed in Prague.  Ten years ago when we were here, it had a very different feel.  Prague was just starting to hit the map as a place that must be visited and although there were tourists ten years ago, it did not match what we saw this time around.  The amount of tourists was impressive.  There were people everywhere.  The major squares are far more commercialized than they used to be and while it is nice to be able to get a cup of Starbucks or find some clothes at H & M, the commercialism has removed some of the natural charm that we fell in love with 10 years ago.  The movement to commercialism is natural when a place becomes as busy as we have seen the Historic Center over the last couple days, but, at what cost?  It is not the same because of all the retail, yet, we still enjoyed our time walking around, trying to ignore all the retail.

Once you get the heart of the Old City, those big chain retailers disappear and then, the charm starts to return.  All the little shops and restaurants start to appear and the roads begin to narrow.  We found all the beautiful landmarks that are symbolic of Prague and thoroughly enjoyed walking through the winding roads.  Charles Bridge is always a fabulous place to stop.  The bridge itself is magnificent, but the view is even better.

All in all, Prague was great.  Although it has changed, it still holds a special place for us.  Today, we head out to Pardubice and Hlinsko where we used to live and work.  We will be visiting friends along the way.  It will be a great way to spend the rest of our winter break!

Dimples and his Christmas tree.

Taking a break.

The kiddos loved chasing the pigeons.

Princess on Charles Bridge.

The trip up to the castle was a little daunting for the kids.

Wencesles Square.

Hubby and I on the bridge...where it all began.

Day 4 and 5 - Budapest, Bratislava and the Car

Yesterday we piled into the car and headed off to Budapest for the day.  Since Budapest was only 2 hours away from Bratislava, we decided to take advantage of our proximity and go there.  A two hour drive did not seem like that big of a deal and making it into a day trip.  We did a similar thing last year when we headed off to Portugal and it was worth it, so, we thought we would try it again.

It was TOTALLY worth it.  Even though our initial impressions were not great, pushy rude Hungarian people and a ridiculous traffic jam about 45 km`s away from Budapest, we were captivated immediately as we left the car at the Citadella.  The Citadella provided a great view of Budapest, despite the foggy sky.  But, the foggy sky provided a different blessing.  The frost on the trees was immaculate and allowed us to take some fabulous photos of the kids in the snow.  We visited this Soviet Bunker at the Citadella complete with wax men to give an example of what the various rooms were used for.  Some of the pictures were incredibly grotesque, but the image it portrayed of what the area was like during WWII was necessary.

From the Citadella we ventured into the Historic Center and walked across the well known chain bridge.  Walking along the Danube River left us completely exposed to the wind and cold so we made the walk as quickly as we could.  The kids were hungry and cold so we were thrilled when we happened upon a cafe that served traditional Hungarian food.  We thoroughly enjoyed the Hungarian soup and Goulash Stew...the kids had meals and somehow, the total cost was only 14 Euros.  I am certain that there was a calculation error, but, I am not complaining in the least.  It was delicious and exactly what we were looking for.  There is nothing like a good goulash to warm you up on a cold day. 

After having lunch we had a fabulous time exploring Historic Budapest.  Dimples did a fabulous job walking just about everywhere we went.  We probably walked a good 10 km throughout the day and both kids did most of it on their own.  We were slightly disappointed when we arrived at the Basilica, a major landmark in Budapest.  Not only was it closed for the day (at 2 PM on a Saturday), but, almost half of it was covered in scaffolding.  While I understand the importance of maintaining a historic landmark, it was disappointing nonetheless.

Overall, Budapest was a fantastic day trip, but, I wish that we could have had more time there.  There was still a lot that we did not see.  So, Budapest is on the list for a more lengthy stay next time around (when that will be, I have NO idea).

Today we woke up to snow.  Snow was flying around everywhere and it was all over the ground.  Princess and Dimples were ecstatic, even though he thought that it was raining.  Princess wanted to make snow angles and snowmen, but, there was not enough snow.  So, instead of touring around Bratislava for the morning, we picked up a friend and enjoyed some delicious coffee and snacks before beginning our drive to Prague.  I am glad that we made that choice because it took us much longer to get to Prague because of the weather than it should have.

Beautiful frost makes a beautiful background for beautiful kids.

Daddy and Dimples.

Look!  Snow!

Dimples at the Citadella.

Princess in the Soviet Bunker.

A quick picture by the bridge.

So proud of my big boy that walked just as much as the rest of us!

So now, we are settling into our third hotel this week.  We will be staying in Prague for 3 days and then off to Pardubice and Hlinsko where we met 10 years ago.   

Cappuccino and a Fever

Our third day of vacation did not go as planned...at all.  Our plan was to check out of hotel in Vienna and drive into the Historic Center to walk around, take some pictures and check out many of the cute shops in the area.

When we woke up in the morning Princess was not feeling very well.  I took her temperature and she had a fever.  I had packed a first aid kit for our trip which I always do, but, this time I forgot some of the kids medicine.  All Princess wanted to do was sleep, but, we had to check out of the hotel.  So, we loaded up the car and headed into the Historic Center as planned.  When we drove into the area, finding parking was next to impossible.  When we finally found a spot, we had no idea where to pay for parking as there were no meters.  There were no clear signs as to how much parking was or, if you even had to pay.  So we started asking around and no one seemed to know.  Finally, someone said that we needed to pay for the parking in a tobacco shop.  Who knew! 

Immediately after getting out of the car, Princess indicated that she really was not interested in walking around...at all.  We went into a McDonald's, ordered some food and a cappuccino.  Upon completing their food, Dimples and Daddy went out and explored the Historic Center while Princess slept on my lap and I read a book.  Although I wish that I could have walked around, I was not upset to have a chance to sit and read a book in a "McCafe".  Before I had kids, I loved to sit in cafes and do school work or read.  It was a flashback, except this time, Princess was laying on my lap and had a good rest.

Dimples and Daddy returned from a fun time of walking around and checking out the Christmas decorations.  Dimples was very photogenic for the day and wanted his picture taken in front of all the Christmas trees.  Then, just as they returned to get Princess and I, it started to snow.  It has been 2 years since we have seen snow fall.  It was beautiful.

We piled back into the car and drove to Bratislava.  There is a big difference between Vienna and Bratislava, but, Bratislava has a special charm that we have yet to explore.  If our hotel is any indication, our time in Bratislava will be very unique.

Today, we are off to Budapest for the day.  It certainly is nice to be so close to so many interesting cities!  Princess no longer has a fever, so she seems to have a lot more energy for today's adventure!

Daddy and Dimples in the Center.

Dimples and Princess in the McCafe.

Tried to get her to smile...she just was not feeling well.

He had a great time!

By the early evening, Princess was feeling much better!

Pandas, Koalas and Penguins...oh my!

Day 2 of our holiday turned out to be a lot of fun for all four of us.  We had heard about this amazing zoo in Vienna that was on the grounds of a palace that had a "Winter Pass" to increase traffic in the various attractions housed in the area.  The hotel front desk recommended taking the subway to the palace so that is exactly what we did.  And what an adventure that was for Dimples.  He loves all modes of transportation, so, with this being his first adventure on a subway, he was all smiles.  The trip on the subway was very efficient and smooth and even though we had to make a transfer to a different line, we made it there with no difficulties whatsoever. 

When we got off at the zoo stop, we found a cute little bakery to have breakfast.  Oh my.  It was delicious.  Aside from schnitzel which Austria is well known for, they are also known for strudel...so, naturally, we had to have some strudel.  It was delicious.  We also quickly devoured a delicious fresh mozzarella and tomato sandwich.  It is amazing how much you miss simple things like, fresh mozzarella.

We then made our way to the zoo.  We fully expected to have to pay something for the kids to get in, but, they were free which made the beginning of our trip even better because we saved nearly 25 Euros.  When we first entered the zoo, we were not super thrilled.  The koala house was not open, the Panda house was in the process of being cleaned out, and we could only see the panda from a great distance.  But then, we decided to go back and try the koala house again and had a phenomenal time just watching the koalas.  Since almost all the animal exhibits were inside, we would walk outside for 2-3 minutes, then go inside to visit whatever creature was waiting for us.  The longer we stayed, the better the zoo became and I can now state that this is definitely one of the best zoos I have ever visited.  The habitats look very natural and are very large in comparison to other zoos I have been to.  The animals were well fed (especially the anaconda we watched eat a rabbit).  Both hubby and I were startled at various times.  As we entered the Giraffe House we certainly did not expect to see large birds.  For those that know me very well, birds and I are not the best of friends, even the little ones.  So, when we walked into the Giraffe House, I look to the left as a very large bird is attacking one of the logs in the exhibit.  Then, here was this one exhibit with frosted glass and only a couple of clear spaces for a person to look through.  Hubby took a look in and saw a familiar large and ugly bird, the Maribou Stork.  When we were in Tanzania, we saw these birds all over the islands.  They are scavengers and would help clean up the fish remains.  Anyway, Hubby was looking in and the bird launched its head towards the glass and its beak hit the glass.  Hubby bounced backward laughing at how startled he was.

The kids both had a great time at very different animal houses.  Dimples really liked the aquarium, Princess liked the seals and the penguins, but, both kids really enjoyed the elephants.  When we were in the elephant exhibit we met another young couple with a child the same age as Dimples and they started to play together. To our surprise the couple work in Saudi Arabia.  So, we had a very interesting discussion about life in the Middle East and the similarities and differences between Egypt and Saudi.  Due to this unexpected visit and play time, we stayed in the Elephant House for almost an hour.  Once we left, we smelled like the Elephant House and could not get the smell off our clothes.  Oh well, it was a reminder of our day.

In connection with the Winter Pass, we also went to see the Schonbrunn Palace.  This Palace was the home of many monarchs during the reign of the Hapsburg`s.  The palace was very ornate and the history of the palace and the people that lived there was truly fascinating. Each room had a very specific decor and many of the rooms housed very important visitors.  In one room, Mozart played his first concert at the age of 6 and in another US President Kennedy met with Soviet President Khrushchev.  In another room they discussed the children of Marie Teresa and Emperor Franz Joseph...very well know Marie Antoinette who was eventually married to King Louis XVI of France, who eventually was executed by guillotine.  It was definitely and interesting tour.  Princess enjoyed the ornate rooms and Dimples could have cared less.  There was a fabulous Christmas market outside the palace that we enjoyed some hot chocolate and delicious local cuisine.

The kids were getting sleepy so we headed back to the subway.  Dimples fell asleep on the way.  It was a great day.  Next up, we will be visiting the Historic Center of Vienna and then traveling to Bratislava.  Enjoy the pictures!

Taking a stroll through the streets of Vienna.

A Koala.

Dimples loved the stingrays.

Panda Bear.

You can`t see it, but, they were sitting on an elephant sculpture.

Dimples was very sleepy.

Princess and the Palace.

The view from the palace.

Hubby and the Stork...

Day 1

Traveling with kids is always an adventure.  I think I should create a list for others that travel internationally with kids as often as we do.  I think I finally have it down to a science.

Our journey began at 11:30 AM, December 19th, when our driver came to pick us up from home.  We packed lighter than usual, only 3 suitcases and some carry on bags.  One thing that I have learned about traveling with little ones is that you want as little as possible to have to carry.  We assigned baggage to one another due to our history of leaving things behind when we fly.  Snacks were packed, warm winter clothes were on standby in a backpack and we piled into the car. 

The driver had been back and forth to the airport multiple times already and warned us that the road was really "bad" on the way to the airport.  By this he meant that there was a major traffic jam somewhere along the way.  I settled into the uncomfortable squishy backseat not looking forward to a 2 hour journey to the airport.  Thankfully, whatever the problem was earlier had cleared up and we got to the airport in good time.  Once we arrived at the correct terminal, we quickly passed through check-in, customs and security.  Everything was moving along really smoothly...I wasn't sure if I should be ecstatic or concerned.

We had missed the lunch hour while we were driving to the airport so we went to the food court and discovered a play structure for the kids to entertain themselves.  I am always a HUGE fan of airports having play structures.  It keeps the kids distracted instead of being bored while waiting to board a plane.  We quickly ate some lunch and Hubby went for a quick walk where he ran into another teacher from the school who just happened to be on the same flight.  You would think that we would have come to that realization sooner, but, since she carried on to Geneva, we would have never thought to ask if she was traveling through Vienna.  Having her around was a great way to pass the time as we debriefed from the past couple of weeks of teaching.  Eventually, it was time to board the plane.  We collected our assigned baggage and our kiddos and ventured onto the plane.  By this time, Princess had made friends with some other kids during her time at the play structure and these same kids were on our flight as well.

This was the first time that we flew Austrian Airlines.  At first I was fairly impressed.  Within a short time of being seated, they brought the kids a deck of cards and a coloring book with crayons.  This to me is always a good sign.  The good that was delivered for the kids was also great.  It was not chicken fingers and french fries which the children's meal on planes always seems to be.  The airline service took a significant decline after getting the food out though.  They took forever to clean up the food trays and then, were not seen again until we landed; even when ringing the flight attendant button, no one would come. 

We were not granted the luxury of deplaning directly inside.  Instead, we deplaned directly onto the tarmac.  I was hoping to delay the welcome into the cold weather a little longer, but, we bundled the kids up and ventured out.  It was not too bad, approximately 4 degrees Celsius.  Again, we quickly passed through customs, acquired our bags quickly and soon discovered that our car rental was upgraded from a Ford to a Mercedes.  No complaints on our end.  We loaded up the car, secured the car seats and loaded up the GPS.   After getting lost because the GPS was on simulation mode, and a more than complicated routing because of the GPS, we did eventually make it to our hotel and we were exhausted.  The flight was just under 4 hours, but, were traveling for almost 10 hours by the time we made it to the hotel.  The kids fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep while we carried them upstairs to our room.

Since the kids were sleeping this morning, Dimples was confused when he woke up and he LEFT the hotel room to find me!  Hubby thought that he had gone to the bathroom until he heard some crying, so he went to check it out.  Sure enough, Dimples was down the hall resisting daddy bringing him back to the room because he was convinced that I was in another room.  Poor guy.  Needless to say, I think he understands now, but, we will be putting suitcase or something in front of the door tonight in the event he decides to venture out again!

Play Structures are great at airports!

This little bubble dome worried me every time he climbed in it.  There were supposed to be 6 screws holding the dome in place, but, there were only three, most of which were on the top.  Thankfully, nothing bad happened and he had a great time playing in the bubble.

So, today marks the official first day of exploration.  We are planning to take the metro to a palace and a zoo.  Should be a lot of fun!  It does amaze me however, that it is 7:30 AM now, and not a glimmer of sunshine to be seen yet.  I guess I am spoiled by the sun coming up as early as it does in Egypt!

Hello Holidays!

Yesterday was the last day of classes.  The Holiday Celebration was well planned and was a success.  While the Celebration rang through the hallways and the Atrium, the cleaning staff devoted themselves to their prayers.  Last year around this time I wrote about how I was surprised to see Merry Christmas signage throughout the stores and malls.  Living in a predominantly Muslim country, it really was the last thing I expected to see.  This year, I expected it, but, it still had me thinking about why the Holiday terminology is so heavily debated in North America.  It still rattles around in my head from time to time.   

Princess had her school performance debut yesterday.  She was a part of the JK and SK choir that sang their rendition of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".  The whole group (around 80 kids) climbed onto the stage wearing antler hats with red noses and took their place.  The music started and, I have to say, that it was really cute.  Not quite as cute as the Nursery Graduation from last year, but, this was pretty close.  Princess performed all her actions, on time and sang nice and loud for all to hear.  It is amazing that the elementary music teacher was able to coordinate 80 kids, with actions and music.  That would be a challenge for me...give me a group of 20 grade 7's any day over that.

It is nice to not have to worry about work for 3 weeks...well, in an official sense I guess.  I just found out that I will be teaching an additional math class starting in February.  This news was a major curve-ball, but, I will put together some interesting lessons in time for the course to start.  I am thankful that they asked before the holiday so that I can prepare to teach Grade 10 math.  It beats last year when I found out only days before school started that I would teach Grade 8 and 9 math.  I am looking forward to teaching the class...but, I lose a prep to teach it, so hopefully, it will not overwhelm my already really busy schedule.

With a 3 week holiday that has now only just begun, we are greatly anticipating our winter travels.  I am dreading knowing that we are going somewhere that is much colder than here.  I am already cold with the climate that we are in.  We are packing all of our warmest weather gear (that we have) in hopes that it will be enough.  A couple weeks ago we went out in search of winter hats and gloves and were successful overall.  Here's hoping that it will be enough.  Otherwise, we will be making some quick purchases when we first land in Vienna.

Our itinerary has us traveling to Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and all around the Czech Republic.  We are really looking forward to it and will keep the blog updated as much as possible during our travels.  Until then, enjoy these pictures from the Celebration yesterday.

The beautiful sunrise from our balcony yesterday.

Dimples checking out the sunrise.

Princess entering the performance.

Ready to sing!

She was excited to perform.

Still waiting...

It took quite awhile to get the 80 some kiddos ready to go!

A Typical Friday

It is the Friday before Christmas Holiday when all through the house, not a creature was stirring...wait, that is where it ends for us. 

There is always constant excitement at our house.  While Hubby let me sleep in this morning (a wonderfully rare occurrence for either of us).  When I got up I found art projects all around, a Cairo style traffic jam on the floor and the math cards all over the floor.  The Christmas tree was twinkling and then, Princess showed me her homework.  This is a pretty typical Friday morning for us.

Friday is our Saturday.  It is the first day of the weekend and we tend to take it very easy on Friday's.  Often, we will walk to the school and get some extra work done.  The kids love being in our classrooms, especially Princess who plays teacher.  She will write all over the board giving a lesson and then sit down at a desk and do her "check marks" (which is her way of saying marking).  Recently she has been saying that she wants to be a teacher when she grows up.  This is not surprising to us, but it is cute when she adds, "but not those big kids that you teach.  I am going to teach little kids...like Kindergarten kids".  She has chosen her teaching stream already!

With the holiday quickly approaching, there is little time to clean up the classroom and get the final marking done before the holiday (silly me made a final project due on the last day of class...what was I thinking??)  But, if it does not get done before the holiday, it will still be there when I get back. 

One interesting thing that is happening this weekend is that the Egyptian people will vote in a Referendum for the draft of the Constitution.  This is a significant time in the lives of the Egyptian people and my hope is that they all go out and vote!  Many are planning to boycott, but, if they boycott, their vote would have been "no".  They need their "no's" to ring clearly for it to be a relevant Referendum.  Anyway, I have decided not to blog about political issues and therefore, that is the end of my message.  VOTE!  It is the only way your voice will be heard. (That goes for people everywhere).

This is Princess's Arabic Homework.  I cannot help her with it, or tell her if it is correct.  But, she is very confident that it is right.  She had to match the letter on the left with the image on the right.  The letter on the left matches the first letter of the image.  This type of work makes me very proud of my little girl.  Learning a new language is tough!

This is an image daddy drew for Princess.  It is a picture of our school. 

Some of Princess's English homework. 

So, that brings to an end, our week in a nutshell. I am including some pictures of the kiddos from the morning.  

Has it Been That Long??

Wow!  I cannot believe that I have not written on this blog in such a long time.  This school year has been very busy and so much has been happening, I just have been running out of time to write!  Well, here's hoping that this is the start of regular Friday blogging again.

I have to admit that I imagined this year in Egypt to be going differently than it has.  Having taught Grade 7 last year, and, having taught 2 out of the 3 classes I am teaching this year, I expected to have less planning to do.  In a way, it is true that I have less actual planning to do.  But, since I decided to take over as the Director of the Model UN program at the school, that is where things have been keeping me on my toes.

Directing such an amazing enrichment program at the school has been overwhelming, fun, interesting and educational.  I have learned a lot about what is happening in the world today through the research I have had the chance to do to help the students out.  I was blessed with the opportunity to take 4 students to Jordan for 5 days for a conference and, while we were there, got to explore the amazing beauty of Petra.  The only thing that would have made that experience better would have been to have hubby and the kiddos with me.  Those 5 days were challenging because they were long days and I missed my family.  It was the first time I had been away from them.  But, we all made it through and now Princess pretends to go on trips.  Whenever she pretends to go on trips, her destination is always to Jordan.  It is cute.  The program has nearly tripled in size since the beginning of the year and I am looking forward to taking students to 3 more local conferences in 2013.

We had a holiday in October for 5 days as the Egyptian people celebrated EID.  Last year, I wrote a lengthy post about the reason for the celebration.  This year, we rented a car for the holiday instead of going away and ventured around on our own.  We got terribly lost on our way to the Step Pyramid in Sakkara one day and drove down this small road through a small village suburb of Cairo.  The celebration of Eid does not pass without the slaughter of some kind of animal and this street we drove on was slaughter central.  Every couple of feet there was a man killing a cow, lamb or goat.  We even saw a car in front of us with a goat in the trunk...unsure if it was dead or alive.  People were everywhere trying to get the best animal and watch the slaughter.  There were a lot of flies and it looked really unsanitary, but, it was fascinating nonetheless.  Sorry, no pictures, the camera was in the trunk and we were not about to stop and get out in the midst of all the...excitement.

Of course, the most current and relevant part of our life is that Egypt continues to be politically unstable and people are protesting more regularly this year than last.  I have had very interesting conversations with students about the current events and protests.  They have different perspectives on the situation.  But, just as I stated last year on the blog, we have not felt unsafe where we are.  The protests continue far away from our home and we are regularly monitoring the news on television.  We had one day where the school closed for precautionary reasons, but, other than that, life has continued as normal.  It is certainly interesting living in the midst of such turmoil, even though we are not experiencing it directly.

The kids are definitely demonstrating changes though.  We receive daily comments about how well Dimples is speaking Arabic and Princess is doing well in her classes at school.  Her Arabic teacher commented on how well she is doing considering she has no one at home to practice with.  It will be interesting to see how well they do learn Arabic while we are here, and then, how long it will stay with them once we leave.  It truly is a difficult language and I hope it benefits them in their future.  They are both growing very quickly and it seems like they are bigger every morning.  Princess has made some really good friends at school and it is fun to watch her interact with them on a daily basis.  One of her friends had a bike which Princess quickly figured out how to ride.  This led to the purchase of 2 bikes...one for Princess and one for Dimples.  They both love to ride around on our large balcony outside.

Last year, we decided not to decorate a tree for Christmas because we spent our holiday in Spain and Portugal.  Since we had no snow in Cairo in the weeks leading up to Christmas, it never really felt like Christmas for us.  Even when we were in Spain.  So, this year, we decided to buy a tree and decorate it with red and gold, just as we would if we were in Canada.  With the twinkling lights on the tree, it feels like the Christmas season this year.  The kids had a fantastic time decorating the tree too.  It is the first light to go on in the morning when they wake up.

We are looking forward to our Christmas holiday.  We are blessed to receive 3 weeks off from school in December and are really anticipating our journey to Austria, Hungary and Czech Republic.  For those of you that know us well, the Czech Republic has a special place in our hearts and we will be returning there for the first time since 2005.  We look forward to reconnecting with some friends that we miss, but, I am not sure if I am looking forward to the snow and some colder weather.  I will definitely be writing about our winter escapades though.  I am really curious as to how the kids will do with the weather change!

Climbing some old rocks at Petra, Jordan.

Princess showing off her new bike.

A quick picture on our day trip to Zamalek

A family picture from Cairo Tower.

Merry Christmas from the Bishops!

Dimples quite enjoyed the garland.

Princess pretending to be Rudolph.

Well, how is that for a quick summary of a couple months?  So much has happened it really is difficult to condense it.  If time permits, I will write more regularly in the coming weeks.  Thanks for following us!