Meme

These are supposedly 26 questions that no one would EVER think to ask. Answer them, then REPOST the bulletin:

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was behind you? The towel bar, and therefore, towels.
2. How much cash did you spend yesterday? Ooh, tough one.... Ok. About 250 Kc, because I went to the museum and out for coffee.
3. What's a word that rhymes with mist? fist
4. Favorite planet, which you would live at if, you could? I kind of like Earth, because it's sort of, you know - the only habitable planet...
5. Who is the first person you ever kissed? Adam G.
6. What is your favorite ring on your phone? woodland
7. What kinda underwear are you wearing? eeek! family blog, family blog!
8. What do you think of yourself? I'm not the same person that I was 5 months ago. I'm way more confident, way more brave, much less whiny, and much less Chicken Little (The sky is falling!!)
9. Name the brand of your shoes you're currently wearing? Who wears shoes in the living room? No shoes!
10. Night light or pitch black? pitch black
11. What do you think about the (previous) person who took this survey? I've no opinion, as I got of the blog of a friend of a friend of a friend, and I don't know them. Is that weird?
13. What were you doing at midnight last night? Sleeping!
14. What did your last text message you received on your cell say? "Don't know where that is exactly, can we meet somewhere else? The film's not dubbed in Czech, right?"
15. Where is the nearest Panera? I'm not certain what this "Panera" is, and I'm even less certain that there's one in the Czech Republic...
16. What's a saying that you say a lot? Ne ne ne. Pronounced "nay nay nay" it's Czech for... wait for it... no no no. Surprised??
17.Who told you they loved you last? My dad!
18. Last furry thing you touched? My teddy, Tomaš
19. How many drugs have you done in the past three days? None
20. How many rolls of film do you need to get developed? None
21. Favorite age you have been so far? Now!
22. Your worst enemy? My staggering ability to convince myself that everything is connected in ways to make me miserable. But I'm working on it! :D
23. What is your current desktop picture? My roommate's nephew
24. What was the last thing you said to someone? Na schledanou - it means "good bye" in Czech
25. How do you like your eggs? As an omelette, with lots of cheese and veggies
26. The last song you listened to? Never been this close

Ha! How boring was THAT? :) Yesterday was cool - taught my one class, then went to the library, and then met Chris for coffee. Then we went to the National Museum (pretty cool - and cold. Apparently, the dead and taxidermied animals need to be refrigerated!) Then we went for another coffee, and I headed to Bible study.

Today, I slept in, read in bed and napped all morning, then went out for some lunch and to run some errands. This afternoon I'm going to read and try to write a couple of letters. Then I'm meeting Chris to go see "Walk the Line" tonight. I'm happy, because no one else here seems to like Johnny Cash, so I didn't think I'd get to see it before I went home. This is muchos awesome. I do love me some Johnny Cash. I miss hearing Jacob sing Burning Ring. It's second only to the time that he sang "U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi, you UGLY" to my mum... "You ugly, grandma! you ugly!" Ah, Jake I miss you.

Alright. I'm off. I'm reading "The Case for a Creator," and it's really interesting, and I want to finish it. Catch alls y'all later!

Love,
Elizabeth

Fridays are Lazy

Morning all. I got to sleep in this morning, since my student cancelled his classes this week - he's skiing in Italy, the lucky man! So I slept in, and then crawled out of bed to finally put up a blog post.

Thanks for all of the comments on my last post. It's amazing how your friends can support you from a zillion miles (and an ocean!) away! I did a lot of pondering yesterday (thanks for the word, Tyler), and I think God and I have sorted a few things out. I picture myself taking these tiny little steps forward, and occasionally a BIG one backwards, but I think I'm making progress.

I got an email from Bari yesterday confirming that we're on for Munich in 2 weeks. I'm going to the train station today to buy my ticket. Eeek! I'm excited again! It's pretty cool how I'm getting to do all of this travelling. My passport is beginning to confuse the authorities when they ask for it on the train because there are so many stamps. They have a hard time finding the most recent one! Excellent.

The University of Alberta sent me an email saying that if I'm in their top 40 applications, I could hear about acceptance as early as the end of February. That would be great! I hate how everything after April 27 kind of falls off into an abyss of "I don't have any information about what I'm going to be doing then." It's an excellent exercise in trusting God to pave the way to my future, but I like to think about things! I like to daydream about what comes next! And it's really hard when you have NO IDEA where you'll be, not even the province. However, I choose to trust God - and who knows, maybe something amazing'll happen. ("What are you waiting for, kid?" "I don't know... something AMAZING!" -The Incredibles)

Today is one class, photocopying, coffee with a friend, and Bible study. Tomorrow's a big blank - not sure what I'll do. Life has become very routine here, which I like, because it's soothing. And it's a routine that I generally enjoy (excepting the times when more stubborn students make me feel like beating my head against the blackboard). One exciting thing is that I got a care package from my mummy on Jan 25 - that she mailed on Jan 20. Uh huh. God worked a miracle through the US and Czech postal systems to help me cope with feeling sad on Tuesday and Wednesday! :)

Hope you all had great weeks.

Love,
Elizabeth

Not a lot to say

Good morning, all! I'm trying hard to keep up with the posting, but it's difficult! Not much has happened this week.

Monday: Taught my classes. One of them is officially cancelled, like permanently, so now I'm trying to find a replacement for it. Then, in the evening, I had dinner with Courtney and Lucy, where we filled each other in on our weekends. It was a typical girls' dinner, chatter chatter chatter!!

Tuesday: Taught my classes. I showed up for one of them, and the student wasn't there. Unfortunately, I couldn't confirm this until I'd been standing outside for about 15 minutes. It's been hovering around -18 these days, and so I was freezing and cranky! I know, I know - it's not that cold. But it sure felt cold!! Then I met up with Tiffany for coffee. Her brother arrived last night to visit her, which is cool. I hope they have a good time together.

Also on Tuesday: did battle with another round of homesickness.... Well, it's not really homesickness, it's this feeling that I don't fit in here, that I'm really out of place. Then I get frustrated with feeling that way, because I'm trying SO HARD to be a content and peaceful girl here, and yet I keep on feeling the the square peg in the proverbial round hole. God and I did a lot of talking yesterday, but I don't feel like we really got anywhere. Please pray that he will get me through this, and that I will learn the lessons that he wants me to. Right now, I don't even understand what those are!

Today: I got to sleep in, since both my morning classes cancelled. I read in bed for a while, got up, cleaned the bathroom(s) (both the WC, and the room with the tub and sink), and vacuumed the floors. Then I took a shower. Now, I'm going to get dressed, eat some breakfast, and probably read some more. After lunch, I'm going to the library to work on some paperwork for Skrivanek, and then I'll teach my afternoon classes. Tonight I'm hopefully meeting up with a friend from church, Granville, who's been gone over Christmas. Should be good!

Love you all!

Elizabeth

Austria

Happy Monday everyone! How were your weekends? Mine was awesome. After 7 hours on the train (during which I tried to listen to a lecture on CD, and watch the scenery, and promptly fell asleep), I arrived in Salzburg. The trip was uneventful, thank God, and I made all my transfers succesfully! Go me!

Elly met me at the train, and there was much hugging and rejoicing. I brought greetings from a zillion people, and a hug from Kim, and we started talking. We didn't stop the whole time I was there!

We went straight to her pastor's flat, where we had youth night, and watched all 3 of the Star Wars' movies. The first time I saw them was in high school with Elly's youth group, so it was totally appropriate. I fell asleep during the third one, but no one seemed to mind too much!

Then we went back to Elly's house, where she rents a room. It's the cutest house! It's completely Austrian, and so adorable. Her room is lovely and cozy, and has two beds, one of which I gratefully fell into, and crashed.

On Saturday, Elly and I went and walked all around Salzburg. We saw the abbey that's in the Sound of Music, and the dome cathedral, and both of Mozart's homes (the one he was born in, and the one he worked in). We found a statue of Don Giovanni that has a duplicate in Prague, so I took a photo of it, and we'll take a pic of the one here when Elly's in Prague, and it'll be cool. We had coffee in a swank hotel/cafe, bought groceries for meals, found me a pair of jeans (10 euros!), and talked non stop. We went back to her house, and cooked dinner, and talked, and watched a movie, and talked, and popped popcorn, and talked....

On Sunday, we went to Elly's church. It was wonderful. I had one of the most beautiful communion experiences of my life, and it was such a gift from God. My heart was really and truly touched. Elly's church is very friendly and kind, and we stuck around for coffee afterwards chatting with various people. Then we headed back to Elly's to cook us some lunch, and to talk. We talked until about 4:15 when it was time to head for the bus. We talked on the walk, while waiting, on the bus, and then on the train platform. Finally, we had to say goodbye. I did NOT want to!! I got on the train, and headed for "home."

As it was the evening/night on the train, I figured I'd sleep - but nope. Guess I did all my sleeping on the day train down! For the last leg of my journey I shared a compartment with an Aussie girl and a Czech guy, and we chatted most of the way. I got back to my flat at about midnight, and fell into bed, pausing only to read the letter from Grandma that must have arrived on Friday. I got up at 6 this morning, and went to my lessons.

So that was my weekend. What was yours like???

Love,
Elizabeth

Oh man, I suck

Hi guys,

well, obviously the daily posting has taken a dive. However, I just don't always seem to have time to post - but I'm not doing anything all that exciting, so when I DO have time, I don't have much to say!

My week has been good so far. My classes are going well, and I managed to drill a complex grammar point into a couple of my students, so that pleases me greatly. They were a bit sick of the exercise, but at least they now understand it! A lot of my students have continued to cancel classes, which makes me sad, but it's beyond my control. I am letting go and not worrying about it. I know that God will provide some way or another (through generous family members - you know who you are, and thank you), and through substitute teaching, or maybe picking up another class or two. It shall all be Ok!

I'm meeting Tiffany for coffee tonight, which is necessary, because the weather sucks. It's cold, wet, snowy and slippy. It might require coffee with bailey's, or some such thing. Blech. Hopefully it blows over soon!!

Tomorrow is classes, photocopying (blech again!!), Czech lesson, and dinner with Courtney. Hopefully Ade and Lucy can come, too, because it's always fun when there's a group of us. Ade cracks me up! Then it's home to try and get a good night's sleep before leaving for Austria on Friday morning. I have a nasty cold (cough, runny/stuffy nose), and haven't been sleeping so well, so hopefully tonight and tomorrow are good.

I have a 7 hr train ride to Elly, so I'm going to do my student evaluations, and listen to music, and read, and sleep - mini holiday! I bought new batteries for the discman today - getting ready to go! I'm so thrilled!

I likely won't post til I'm back. I love you all, and hope you have great weekends!

Love,
Ela

The Alberta Ace

Hi guys!

How were your weekends? Mine was fabulous (minus being a bit homesick Saturday afternoon, but I'm starting to just accept that I'm probably going to miss home the whole time I'm here!). Friday, we went out for dinner at Courtney and Adrian's local, and it was yummy. I had their Cabman's Goulash, and it was excellent. I highly recommend bacon dumplings! They're dense like me, but so delicious! After that was Bible study, which was also good. I think I've mentioned that we're working on Malachi, and there's some really good stuff for group discussion in there.

Saturday was chores and lesson planning (less of both than I'd intended, but motivation has gone missing. Has anyone seen it...?) Then, Saturday night was poker night at Rob and Marta's. It was so much fun! 8 of us played Texas Hold 'Em for a couple of hours, and it was a really great way to spend the night. We bought in for 100 kC each, and when I cashed out, I had 196! Sweet! Perhaps I should give up teaching and join the professional poker circuit - or not. My poker name was The Alberta Ace. Don't look at me like that, Adrian assigned it!!

Sunday was church, and then I spent the rest of the day with Tiffany. We baked cookies and watched The Phantom of the Opera. The cookies were awesome, and the movie was decent, so it was a good day. Emmy Rossum can sing, but I don't think much of her acting. During the scene when she's singing "Think of Me" there's absolutely NO expression on her face aside from a vapid smile. Blech. But Gerard Butler - excellent! (And hot.)

So it was an excellent weekend. But somehow, I don't think it can compare with next weekend - when I will be with Elly in Austria. Oh yeah, folks... I'm super excited! (Did you guess that? Have I mentioned it before??)

So, have a good week, and I'll try to keep on top of the posting!

Love,
Ela

Happy Friday

Hello all - here is your long awaited post! I'm sorry that it's taken so long, but life has been a bit hectic these past few days.

On Wednesday, my evening class was observed by one of Skrivanek's senior teachers. I got an "A"! In fact, he suggested that I might be paid for having other teachers sit in and observe my lessons, as long as I was willing to a debriefing afterwards. I'm seriously hoping that this is a possibility, and am praying that it will work out. It was really exciting to get such positive feedback. I know that I don't want to teach for the rest of my life, but it's nice to know that I'm good at something that's related to what I want to do long-term. Arranging conversation groups for seniors with strokes is surprsingly similar to running EFL classes, so I'm thrilled that I both like it and am good at it.

On Thursday, I got paid. Enough said. Paydays are ALWAYS happy days. Only, it wasn't all that happy, because I was feeling a bit stressed about money. (Ah, don't we all go through the same problems in life?) There was a minor whoops with my pay that had to be sorted out (frustrating!) and a very large number of my lessons are being cancelled due to holidays and doctors' appointments. I understand that my students deserve holidays and medical care :) but I still wish it didn't mean that I lost classes. :( Fortunately, I scrutinized the budget, and I should be Ok. Hopefully they'll slow down on the cancelling...

Or if they don't, hopefully I can continue to pick up the occasional subbing lessons. Today I subbed in two classes, which was... challenging. It's weird to go into an unfamiliar situation and just teach one lesson. You follow the book if the regular teacher has tleft you enough information to do so, but if they haven't - you just go from scratch. And it's not like my ordinary "first lesson" where we get introduced and play games - these guys have already one of those - they just want an English lesson! All in all, the two classes went quite smoothly (minus me being late for one due to miscommunications - all sorted out in the end). I've picked up another sub lesson for next week, which will help make up for the 4 lessons that cancelled in advance...

I also met my new student today. So nice! Very friendly and very relaxed; I imagine we'll get on just fine. She wants to work on grammar, which is fine by me, because I do love grammar. I think it'll be a great class.

Tonight was Bible study, which was excellent, as per usual. We're working on the book of Malachi, and I'm quite enjoying studying some of the Old Testament, because I don't know a whole lot about it. It's very interesting, and the conversation tends to get quite deep quite quickly. I'm interested by how applicable it is - I'd always kind of thought that the Old Testament was good for sort of an academic pursuit, but maybe not so relevant personally - boy was I wrong!! Of course, it was also good to see my friends again, and to spend time gabbing away with them after the study section was finished.

Tomorrow is laundry and housecleaning and writing to Grandma during the day. In the evening we're having the first Oxford TEFL Poker Party at Rob's place, and I'm quite looking forward to that. Rob's hosting it, so all I need to do is show up and have a good time!

Sunday I'm meeting with Tiffany after church to bake cookies. Yum! I haven't baked since I've been in the Czech Republic (4 1/2 mos., a major record for me!). I'm sooo looking forward to it. C is for cookie, that's good enough for me...

Ok, I'm off. Love you all, hope things are well.

Love,
Elizabeth

Again with the not being dead!

Sorry for the serious lack of posting this week - I've been quite busy, and the net has been a bit funky at the flat due to some serious downloading! I have to get to Czech class now, but there should be a good update tomorrow or Saturday at the latest.

Love,
Elizabeth

Ahoj!

Hi everyone!

It's a wonderful Monday here! Why? Because of two things. 1) The temperature has dropped a bit (it's about -5*C), and the sun has come out and 2) I got a package!

I haven't seen the sun in about week, so I'm THRILLED that Mr Golden has decided to shine down on me! I certainly don't mind it being colder, although I've turned into a wimp, and I'm wearing tights under my jeans. Just think, last winter I was wearing just jeans and a hoody right up til it hit about -10... and now I'm wearing tights and a winter coat at -5!!

My most favorite person in the whole world right now is Karlie, because she sent me a care package. A care package! I love getting mail in general, but a care package? That's the kind of joy that you can ride for a couple of days! :D She sent me knitting needles, and yarn, and I'm going to try to knit some ankle socks. I've never knit socks before, so I hope I can figure it out. She also sent me *drools* Goldfish. I LOVE THE FISHES, CUZ THEY'RE SO DELICIOUS! And boy, DO I love the fishes! Yayayay! Thank you Karlie!

I was quite concerned about all those classes being cancelled, but it's going to be alright, because I picked up a new class today. It's a once a week, 90 minute, one-on-one at Skrivanek's other office. I'm quite looking forward to it. I need to find out more about the student, though, because I have no idea what level s/he's at, and that makes it hard to plan an introductory lesson. I like to play games for intro lessons, if possible. They help you relax! Ah relaxing.

Tomorrow I'm going to Hlavni Nadrazi (the main train station) to buy my train ticket for Austria! Eek! I love it when trips start to feel more real because you're actually doing things that mean you'll get there, instead of just daydreaming about it. I don't know what I'm going to do there, or what all I'll see, but I know that Elly'll be there, and that's all that really matters! I'm sure that she knows of a few good places to spend some time at, and I'm fairly confident that we can entertain ourselves! Just think, only 11 more days!

Ok. I'm off to read for a bit before heading to my afternoon/evening classes. I love you all!

Love,
Ela

I Love a Quiet Saturday

Evening all! How was your Saturday? Mine was lovely.

I spent the morning do chore-y things. Lesson planning, laundry, making up a salad for lunch - just puttering. I love a good putter. :) I spent the afternoon listening to country music and reading Adrian Plass books. I was going to ration them out but - well, they're addictive! I read three of them today. :) Just as good this time around as they were the first time. "Can I have a jerbil for the coffee machine?"

Then this evening was Narnia with Tiffany. It was WONDERFUL. The casting was FABULOUS. I absolutely detested Edmund at first, but liked him at the end (just like I did in the book!), and the Queen was incredible. I always pictured Jadis as dark-haired, but the blond was very effective. Also, the beavers' lodge was exactly how I always pictured it! Oh man people, I highly recommend this movie. The only change they made that I didn't like was the scene with Lucy healing Edmund. In the book, she doesn't want to leave him to help the other wounded, and Aslan gently reprimands her. I think that it made her more human, and I like the lesson it shows - we can't always cling to our personal worries, because we need to move on to help others. A lesson that I'm learning here in Prague, too!

I imagine tomorrow will be a quiet Sunday, as well. I'm fighting a sore throat, and I don't have any major plans. I may hit the library (love the library!), or maybe some friends will be up for going out for dinner. The morning, of course, will be spent at church. I'm so glad to be going to a Sunday service - it's been a few weeks since I've been to one. I miss the singing!

Well, my throat is hurty, so I'm going to go find the ibuprofen. Hope you all have a good weekend!

Love,
Ela

Postscript

My name is Elizabeth. I know, I know - you all know that. But many of you also know that I go by the WHOLE thing. Not Liz. Not Betty. Not Beth. For a short while a friend called me Elle (or El?) and that was Ok, but it never caught on. When you're called Elizabeth, everyone wants to call you Liz. Nevermind that you introduced yourself as "Elizabeth" and you never once indicated interest in being called Liz.... Poor Hilary spent about calling me "Liz... Abeth" as she tried her best to agree with my grouchy demands about being called Elizabeth! Well - that's all changed now.

My Czech teacher calls me Ela. (Pronounced as Ella). The Czech version of Elizabeth is Eliška (uh-LISH-kuh) (which I also love - you could call me that, too!) and the short form (I guess) is Ela. I quite like it. So if you're inclined to shorten my name, go for Ela. I promise not to bite your head off. My mum is another story .... I named you Elizabeth. I didn't name you Liz. Why on earth would people call you Liz if I named you Elizabeth?

Love...

Elizabeth
Ela
Eliška

Friday Night!

Hi all!

Well, it's Friday, and I'm feeling rather accomplished. Why? Well, because I got lots done, duh!

First, I taught my two classes, and they went well. Had to do a bit of rescheduling in order to be able to go to AUSTRIA in TWO WEEKS, but I got all of that sorted out. The only bummer is that one of my students has several trips this month, and therefore had to cancel a number of lessons. :( That is going to make it a bit harder to go to MUNICH in FEBRUARY, but I'll manage!! *

Then, I went out to Skrivanek and did my photocopying for next week. I found some good stuff for a lesson about "conversational etiquette" in the USA. (Is there really such a thing?) A student is taking a business trip to the states, and wanted some tips. I was completely cracked up by one website that states that Americans are very interested in star signs, and that you will likely be asked about your zodiac sign. Uh huh. Anyway, I thought it was a neat idea, so we're going to talk about the characteristics of the different signs and see how accurate he thinks they are about people he know. Then if some American asks him about his sign, he can answer!

I put together my review packets for my classes next week, too, so that makes me feel pretty good. I figure a lot of the test will be similar to the review: same grammar, different words. It shouldn't be too bad to put the rest of the test together, either - there are so many resources at my company, so I'll put in some reading comprehension and some paragraph writing and be set!!

I also - wait for it - MAILED MY SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS! wOOt!! :D Such a weight is off of my shoulders!! Of course, I'm now convinced that I signed the declaration "Jan. 1, 2005" instead of "2006," but I probably didn't, and even if I did, there's nothing to be done about it now! Now I'm praying a) that I get into one of my schools, and b) that the gov't sees fit to gift me with a generous donation to the "Send Me To School" fund. My excitement is tinged with some sadness though - it cost 250 kC ($12 CDN) to mail the things, because I had to have 5 copies of everything. :( But if they hand over $15 000 (the amount of the scholarship available to Masters' students) then I suppose it's worth it. Oh dear. Must. Not. Get. Hopes. Up.

Now I'm hanging out at home, contemplating what to have for dinner. Then it will be off to Bible study, where I'll see my friends that I haven't seen in two or three weeks now, which is exciting.

Bye!

Love,
Elizabeth

*Have you noticed that I'm excited about travelling?

Today is Thursday, so tomorrow is...

Hi guys,

I'm still getting back into the Prague swing of things, and I keep being confused about what day it is, and what day comes next! :) I think I have it sorted out now, thankfully.

Today was good. My classes were mellow, and I actually had 5 students show up to one class. I like to teach bigger groups, because I like the interaction better, so that was great. My Czech lesson didn't go so well - I forgot everything over Christmas! However, she did review all class, and I think I'm back on track.

I'm going to meet a friend's parents tonight, so I think that will be cool. The hard part is waiting til 7 to leave. It seems like I should be getting ready much sooner than that. I always like meeting people's families, because you get to see a whole new side to them.

Nothing is new here! I'll try to do something exciting on the weekend that I can tell you all about. Hope you're all having a happy day!

Love,
Elizabeth

Hump Day!

Hello friends and family,

it's hump day, so the week is all downhill from here. And downhill in the good sense, like it's going to go freewheeling by! I only have 3 classes today, so I want to spend some time in the library reading and journalling, and then I need to work on developing a test for a couple of my classes. They have to be tested and evaluated by the end of the month, and I was only told on Monday. Eep! But I should be able to pull things together, no problem.

It's nice to be back onto a schedule, even if so many of my classes cancelled this week. The Feb. paycheque will suffer a bit, though. :( Yesterday went really well, I had a great time with all of my classes. We did a discussion on habits (good and bad), addictions, and New Year's resolutions, and my students had some very interesting responses!

I had lunch with Courtney on Monday, and dinner with Lucy last night, and I'm hoping to see Adrian and Courtney tonight, so I'm spending a lot of time with friends, which I really enjoy. I never used to be such a people person, but I'm finding that if I stay in the flat I tend to be homesick. So I go to the library more, and out with friends more, and just try to be a social kind of girl!

I got in touch with Elly, and I'm definitely going to Salzburg this month, hopefully on the 20th. Today I'm going to go to the train station and get them to print out the timetables for the trains for me. I don't trust the online version, because it seems to provide different information everytime I try it. :) It's good for getting a general idea, but now that I'm actually making real plans - well, I want to make sure that the trains are where they're supposed to be, when they're supposed to be! I'm so excited!! I can't wait to see Elly. She's such an awesome friend, plus it will be nice to see someone from home, someone that I have history with. Sometimes my friends here and I end up not having anything to talk about, and I think it's because we don't have that history to go back to and reminisce over. I imagine that Elly and I will be able to talk non-stop for the whole weekend, and STILL feel like there were things we wanted to talk about!! :D

Ok, I need to get to work. I love you all, and hope you're having a happy new year.

Love,
Elizabeth

Happy New Year

Hello all, and a very happy new year to each of you! I hope you all had lovely Christmases - I know I did. :)

Lucy's friends on the Isle are absolutely lovely. They were so nice to me the whole time I was there. On Thursday night we had cheese and biscuits at one of her friends' homes, and that was great. Christmas needs more cheese and biscuits in Canada. Indeed. Anyhoo, it was such a great evening, just sitting around listening to everyone chat with each other, and getting to hear lots of stories about people that I'll probably never meet!

New Year's Eve was fun, too. We went to a dance called the Hipshaker, that's all 60s music, and it was a hoot! The music was great, and tons of people were dressed up like crazy folk (I saw oompa loompas!), so that was awesome. The only not awesome part was when a very drunk girl threw up all over my coat. Eeeew - gross. But I got that under control with only minor gagging, and got it all dealt with.

I was so sad to say goodbye to the Isle this morning - I had such a wonderful, relaxing time there, and being part of an adopted family. I even got to read a couple of very good books, which makes an ideal holiday for me!

The trip home was tiring (I napped for an hour between the dance and the ferry), but we snoozed all the way along, and it was Ok. And now I'm back in Prague, feeling wildly homesick, and wishing I could see my own family. That's how great Lucy's family and friends are!! I was perfectly content while I was there, and I didn't want to leave!

I love you all, and hope you all had happy holidays. I'd love to hear all your stories. :)

Love,
Elizabeth