City Life

So, I went by the American Center today - it's this great little place that lets print and copy as much as you want for free! You can also access jstor and a few other e-journals all for free. It's put on by the U.S. Embassy to help teach about American culture or something. Anyhow, I was doing my work when this women came in with some other man - both of whom looked somewhat official. Then some news reporters came in and interviewed the woman right behind me. I talked to her afterwards - it was Kristin Silverberg - the U.S. Ambassador to the EU (well, at least for a few more weeks - she works for G.W.) She came in the back after the reporters had left to re-do her makeup and apologized to me - I'm still not sure why. Anyhow, for a poli-sci kid like myself I must say it was pretty rad.

I hope, hope, hope Obama comes to Prague when I'm not in labor! The Czech Republic will be holding the EU Presidency from January - June so there is a high chance that he will come! There's an even higher chance that Hilary Clinton will come because of the radar base they are putting in the CZ. I'm so glad I'm living here right now! 

In other news - two and half days left until we fly to California! I have such a long "To Do List" I'm not sure how we'll get everything done and I'm so extremely sad about leaving Mia here. I'm really surprised by how depressed I am that I have to leave her for 2 1/2 weeks. But, she's just a puppy! What if she doesn't remember us? What if she's maltreated or ignored and has psychological damage for the rest of her doggy life? 

Some friends and  a friend's family will be taking turns staying at our flat and taking care of Mia - it's a pretty sweet deal and we are really thankful for it, but I'm still nervous and sad. Does this mean I'm going to be one of those over-protective mothers when I have a human child? I hope not!! 

Here are some pictures from Nick's classmates and teachers' Christmas party. Nick played guitar in a jazz band with two of his classmates - they were great! As you can see we brought Mia - of course everyone loved her and she loved being there! However, she peed right in front of Nick's Professor from America! It was so embarassing! You may also notice my bright green dress - it's actually a swimsuit cover! My belly is too small for maternity clothes, but too big for my clothes so I've been very creative with my wardrobe lately - maybe a little too creative...

corruption

This article was in Radio Prague. It's so sad! Though, it's not that shocking...

_________________________________________________________________________
Transparency International: Czech politics perceived to be amongst
world's most corrupt
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Czech political parties are perceived to be amongst the most corrupt in
the world, suggests a new survey released by Transparency International
on Tuesday. The study focused on 26 countries from four continents and
ranked the Czechs third worst, behind Nigeria and Mexico, when it came
to entrepreneurs' perception of corruption in politics. Some 48 percent
of the businessmen polled said they thought the government's drive to
crack down on corruption had been 'very inefficient' while a further 39
percent said it had been 'inefficient'. In its damning report,
Transparency International said that little to no progress had been
made in the fight against corruption in the Czech Republic.

amputations and thanksgiving x3

If this Surgeon had had a different outcome, then this would be an Onion article and not one found on BBC:

"Surgeon Saves Boys Life by Text"

Wow! Performing an amputation through text messages. I feel like I can do anything with my phone by myside now. If anything, this gives cheaters a good argument - look you can cheat in real life and be successful!

Sorry for not writing much lately. I have a ton of papers to write and tests to take before coming home for christmas.

In short, Thanksgiving was fantastic - all three of them. The first was with our church the Sunday before Thanksgiving. They had a huge dinner at the castle in one of the gallery's. They had a raffle and I won a relaxing bath prize! Nick won the world's ugliest center piece, which he's keen on keeping it. The second Thanksgiving was at the Turnau's - our favorite missionary family. Ted, the Dad, is a professor at my school and also has movie nights every other week where we eat, watch a movie and discuss it after. They are one of the coolest families ever. Anyhow, every year Ted invites all of his students over for a mega-Thanksgiving dinner. We quite enjoyed it, as always. I made a spinach dip which I put in a bread bowl - it's fun doing this because the czechs have never seen anything like it! They always think I'm either a genious or I'm crazy (or both). It was yummy, but looked like something Yoda would bring to family gatherings. I think it's impossible to make green dip pretty.

Then Friday was the Ples (or Ball in english). It was excellent! All the students looked incredibly beautiful! The students put on various dances and shows each year in between the traditional ballroom dancing. This year we really enjoyed the shows, even the scandolous ones (ask and I'll tell you later, let's just way we called it the 'BJ dance'). I was really nervous about the student-teacher dance. I wasn't 100% sure about which student was going to ask me and we didn't get a chance to practice the waltz, like I normally do with the student I have to dance with in front of everyone (the students sign up for which teacher they want to dance with in advance and then they come "pick you up" from your box or seat before the dance begins). Well, to my happy surprise the student never came to get me for the student-teacher dance! I was so happy! I got to watch Nick dance with his student, which he actually rather enjoyed. So, all in all this part, that could have been quite traumatic, turned out to be great.



I especially had fun dancing with my husband. We felt like we were young and dating again. My belly showed for the first time in my dress, which was fun. A lot of former students were there who didn't know I was pregnant, so it was fun to torture them a bit as they kept glancing at my belly trying to figure out if I'd let myself go or if I had something inside there.

Later, I ended up going to the after party with Katie. First, we stopped for after-midnight food ie a big slice of greasy pizza and french fries at McD's (this helped me realize that you don't have to be drunk to eat this kind of food, it just helps to be). The after party was fantastic! It was so much better than last year (although last years after-after party was smashing). I was pretty tired though so I only stayed for about an hour and then came home.

Then on Saturday we went to the last and most "real" Thanksgiving with our friends at Nad Aleji. I baked a delicious apple pie. We brought Mia who turned out to be the star of the party. Uncle Frank gave her a big turkey bone and she was in thanksgiving heaven for the rest of the evening. We ate and ate some more, went to the park at night to play games and came back to eat more and play some music. All in all, it was a beautiful Thanksgiving x3.

In Berlin

After spending the last hour and a-half wandering the rainy, windy streets of Berlin, desperately searching for a cafe or something that has free wireless internet, I have finally conceded and am trying to dry off and warm up at a non-free-wifi cafe. I have been trying to skype my friend Casey for the last 24 hours, but it seems that a force greater than me will not allow it. It's frustrating. In my defeat I decided to breakdown and go to Starbucks. I know there are many good reasons to boycott the bucks, but I just like Starbucks so much. It has such a nice atmosphere and I can hardly resist their christmas gingerbread lattes. I'm not allowing myself to convert how much my tall christmas treat costs in czech crowns or u.s. dollars, what's the point? I know it's entirely over-priced for warm milk, espresso and flavored syrup. Anyhow, this is not what I wanted to write about...

I'm in Berlin this week with 6 of my high school students for a Model United Nations Conference at the somewhat famous John F. Kennedy School in Berlin. Most of the students that attend JFK come from families in the foreign service. Hilary Clinton has spoken at graduation among others. The students all seem to speak perfect american-english and perfect german-german! Not that I'm an expert, but they sound pretty german to me. All the teachers I've met are really interesting. I've met a number of American teachers who have lived all over the place, many of whom have finally settled here in Berlin. I love how multi-cultural this city is. There is so much history. The people are very friendly - well, for the most part, one guy did ride his bike directly into me, because I was accidently walking on the bike path on a busy sidewalk. It's so clean, yet it's still an artistic and culturally rich city. I love so much that I can go into any cafe, bar or restaurant and it's completely smoke free!

I feel normal here. I actually fit in because I'm different, because I'm a foreigner. People seem so much more open and accepting, they don't stare at me because I speak english or because I'm smiling. I've actually had strangers smile at me here - and they weren't even trying to hit on me! One older woman was walking her dog who started going nuts and jumping up and down trying to drink the rain that was spilling off the roof of a building. It was funny, especially since he was a big shaggy-dog. I couldn't help, but smile - then the most bizarre thing happened. The owner of the dog made eye contact with me and smiled too! We shared a smile and nodded our heads in amusement over her shaggy dog. It was so nice! It suddenly didn't feel as cold. She didn't glare at me because I was looking at her and her dog and she didn't look quickly at the ground with a grimace when she noticed me smiling. She didn't even stop her dog and hurry him along because a stranger was there. Instead she calmly enjoyed the moment with a perfect stranger! And both of us were happier because of it.

I wish people smiled all over the world. I wish everyone was friendly and not just worried about themselves. it's something we all struggle with. It's so easy to become completely focused on yourself and see all others as either obstacles to your happiness and/or stepping blocks to success. It's so sad. After all, what's the point of life? To be rich and successful? To be beautiful? To have many lovers? To have only one lover? Will any or all of that really fulfill you? Of course, being poor and struggling to make ends meet doesn't sound very fulfilling either. The easy christian answer is to live for God and do what God wants you to do and you will be fulfilled, but that's not easy at all! Or even necessarily true. It's hard to follow God - how do you know what God wants? So many people just do what they want, think and feel and label it as "God's will". Of course, it feels right because it's what you want, but when it doesn't work out it's either Satan's fault or we simply say, "Well, God works in mysterious ways". Even the bible says, "Who can know the mind of God?" (I don't know the exact verse). Furthermore, even if you sell everything you own and work to help the poor and forget yourself completely - it's not easy. Mother Theresa and a number of saints said they struggled their whole life. Many of them couldn't even feel God anymore.

There are no easy answers. There's no life-instruction manual. The bible doesn't count, it's a good book and I believe it's the inspired word of God, but it's not clear. One of my favorite scenes from the SImpson's movie is when Homer grabs a bible and is searching through it and yells, "There are no answers in this thing!!" People so desperately want answers and rules that they try to make them and claim they come from the bible or doctrine or a Pastor/Priest, etc. They become dogmatic about it. Yet, in truth there are a number of topics that the bible simply doesn't clarify. The bible does not talk hardly at all about sex or abortion or gender or homosexuality or marriage. In fact, in the few instances where it does, it is often very specifically cultural to those times and cannot easily be made into absolute statements for all people in all ages and cultures through out time. It just doesn't make it clear and furthermore, it doesn't give priority to any of these issues.

I think about what a big deal people make about pre-marital sex. One would think not having sex before marriage is more important then helping the poor or simply serving and loving others, because that's what so many churches focus on - not having sex! I've heard of a number of christian couples who have major problems having sex after they get married because it is so incredibly ingrained in their head that sex is bad. They can't even enjoy it once they're married. And yet, how many sermons did Jesus preach about not having pre-marital sex? zero. And that's just one small example of the social issues we try to indoctrinate claiming it's what the bible says! Putting so much focus on issues that are simply not as important as loving your neighbor, giving to the poor or using your talents to the best of your ability for the good of all.

I think I will struggle with religion my whole life and I think it's a good thing. I hope I never think I have all the answers and know everything about God. That would be terrible and really impossible, I would only be lying to myself and others. For me, I try my best to love God as much as possible - more and more each day and to love others and even to love myself with God's love. I don't think it's possible to love others and even God if I don't love myself and I think the hardest person to honestly love is yourself - at least for me. After all, who knows your faults better than you? Deep down I have a track record of all the stupid things I've done, all the wrongs I've committed, all the stupid mistakes I have made. And each day that record increases. It's so hard to forgive myself each day and love myself with God's love so that I may forgive others and love others with God's love. Plus, it's so important not to focus on myself, but to be thinking of others and how to help them - genuinely - not just out of "christian duty". That's the worst kind of help - out of duty. It's so artificial and then you are just doing it for yourself. It's hard to love others too. I couldn't help, but call the biker who rammed into my back in front of my students an asshole. I mean, lets face it, if you look in a dictionary under the word asshole that biker's picture is probably there. Still, I shouldn't have called him that. I shouldn't have even thought it. I mean really, what would Jesus have done? He probably would have prayed for the biker and gone on with his day. He wouldn't have said to his disciples, "What an asshole!!"... I have such a long way to go...

So, I'm learning to take each day at a time. To be patient and pray a lot. I still argue with God a lot in my prayers and just ask so many questions. I try to plead with God to do things my way. I try to convince God that I need to move back to California or I need to be healthy and not sick. I've been praying to be healthy since August and yet, I'm still sick. Each month I get some new illness. It's so frustrating. No matter how much I pray about it, stay in doors, eat lots of garlic, vitamin C and soup, I'm still sick. So, should I dwell on it in anger and frustration or should I just keep going? You're right, I should cry about it... ;) I did plead with God A LOT to have Barack Obama win the Presidency and it actually happened! I'm sure the only reason he was elected was because of my fervent prayers and pleads to God.

Alright, well my socks are almost dry. Yep, I took off my boots and socks and laid them over the heater by my table. So, I'm sitting barefoot in Starbucks around all the fancy dressed well-to-do yuppies (I know, I'm kind of one of them, despite my bare-feet). Time to continue my search for free wifi. Come on God, it's really important! Please help me find free wifi! Trust me...

There is a season

The following picture represents my life right now:)



In many ways I have had an absolutely terrible week. Each day brought new troubles and annoyances. Not even Murphy could have had such an unbelievably bad week. Yet, somehow I find myself completely happy and content. Despite all the terrible things that happened (losing everything, yes everything on my computer, having a hole drilled in my tooth, nearly chopping off my finger, sleepless nights due to the Peeing Queen (Mia), etc), I can't help, but be happy.

Having all these stupid things happen to me made me realize how unimportant these little things are - even material things like my computer. Yes, it's horrible that I've lost all my word documents, itunes and worst of all pictures - since those aren't replaceable, but I know that life could be so much worse - I could have suffered a much more terrible lose than my computer. Yes, it's hard for me to live in the Czech Republic - it's cold and foreign in so many ways, but if living here is the biggest burden I carry right now, then my life is pretty damn good!

I listened to a BBC news special report about Hurricane Katrina survivors. I was astonished at what these people have had to go through and what they are still going through! Thousands of them were placed in FEMA trailers that had toxic levels of formaldehyde - causing horrible illnesses among many of the inhabitants. These people lost everything in the Huricanne and now their losing their health and/or loved ones and must find yet another place to live. It's so sad!

This morning I read the book of Ecclesiastics - possibly my most favorite book of the Bible. It always inspires me and gives me hope, which is ironic since it's probably one of the most depressing books of the Bible. It reminds me how short life is and how everything is basically worthless.

"As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labor, which he may carry away in his hand." - Ecc.5:15

It's such a relief. I think I put too much pressure on myself to always do the right thing, which is of course impossible!

There's so much injustice in the world. I don't know why I'm so fascinated by politics and current events. I can't go a day without reading or listening to the news - even though in many ways it's so depressing. I just can't get over the fact that the majority of Californians voted to write hate into the state constitution. This is the 21st Century! Haven't we learned anything?!? It astounds me that people can be so prejudiced and closed minded. Why must change take so long? Why aren't people learning from the past? It seems like we just repeat our horrific mistakes time and time again, just with different terminology, equipment and "groups of people". I am so incredibly blessed to be married to the man I love - my most favorite person in the world. Yet, I feel guilty for being married because it is so completely unfair! Why should I be allowed to get married? Just because I fit into a certain scope of "social norms". It makes me sick to my stomach. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure my marriage isn't even recognized in America since I married a foreigner who doesn't have a green card. Why do we build so many walls, both figuratively and literally?

I guess all that's left is to appreciate what we do have - the bits of goodness, love, truth, freedom and justice we do have and continue the good fight, no matter how hard or impossible it seems. There is so much injustice in the world, yet there is so much hope and so much goodness that must be overcome. I know I've watched Star Wars too much in my life, but I think in many ways it represents life so well. Even though it may appear that darkness is everywhere, there is still goodness and hope (and yes a force that connects us all that can over-power the dark side!)

So, in the mean time, "...every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God." For me, the grass is always greener on the other side. It is so hard for me to be content and happy because I can always find room for improvement in nearly everything, but I don't want to be one of those people who is never happy because of this constant need for improvement. So, I'm trying my best to be happy and thankful. After all, there is truly so much to be joyful about! Even if it's just the leaves turning brown or the sweet taste of chocolate melting in your mouth. Life is good and we can't let all the sucky people in the world let us forget how good life really is and can be!! We still have much to change and improve, yet let us not forget all the good things on our path to liberty and the never-ending pursuit of happiness.

and now for some pictures! These are the only ones we have, because they were still on our camera. Enjoy my baby belly, baby girl (mia), baby daddy (husband) and ?baby rotten pumkins? (our jack-o-lanterns that we forgot on the balcony until today).

Dr. Drill-Baby-Drill

I apologize for the following grammatical mistakes, I'm too tired to edit this right now. Unfortunately, my story is a bit too late for halloween. Never-the-less, I find it terrifying! Sadly, it's all true. Enjoy...

“Open!” she said with a thick Czech accent. I obediently opened my mouth. I have always loved going to the dentist and getting my teeth cleaned. I had never really been to a dentist in the Czech Republic, I always go each time I return to the states, but I figured it couldn’t be that much different.

She started looking around with her little round mirror at the end of her metal dentistry tool, something nice and familiar. But then she started shaking her head. “No, its no good. You have not been to dentist long time, yes?” I was startled. “Yes, I have. I went to the dentist just last year.” She looked confused, so I tried again in Czech. “Ja jsem byla jenom minuly rok a moje zuby bylo dobry”

I said in my crappy Czech, hopefully getting the point across that I had gone to the dentist last year and my teeth were fine. In fact, I had been to the dentist two months earlier in the Cz and that dentist was very impressed with my healthy, white, american teeth. But, I had to go back and have a dentist sign my pregnancy booklet for my gynecologist to make sure everything was okay (it’s this booklet that like a million doctors have to sign after checking me, it’s like I’m going into space or something. Each week I have to go to several doctors). Anyhow, the other dentist’s office was far away so I went to this one instead. Doktorka Neumannova, or as I now refer to her as Doktorka Dabel-ova (Dr.Devilova)

“Mmm, it is no good! You have bad here and this filling is very old and dirty.”
Was she saying my fillings are old and dirty? I didn’t know they had an expiry date.

“No, we must fix here. I will get anesthetics.” She turned in her swivel chair and started going through an old yellow cabinet. I was shocked! She had barely even looked at my teeth and was already reaching for a drill. Furthermore, I had begun to notice that the Dentist’s teeth were yellow with nasty black stuff in between each of her teeth – clearly a smoker who didn’t seem to take much care of her teeth. Still, she seemed nice – after all she was trying to speak to me in English and she was an older lady – maybe in her 50’s or 60’s. She was probably just confused.

“No, no, that’s okay. I don’t think that’s…” I was trying to figure out how to get out of this without being terribly rude. What was I going to say, ‘I don’t need that, I’m just fine, and remember I’m PREGNANT?!?’ I have read so many articles and books that say pregnant women should not have any kind of dental surgery unless absolutely necessary. Not to mention the fact that anesthetics can be harmful to the baby.

“What? Why not?” She asked. I just kind of stared at her trying to collect my words, when her nurse came to the rescue. In Czech her nurse tells her that I’m a teacher and that I probably have to go teach today. Saved!

“No, ano. Musim jit do prace.” (Yes, I must go to work) I say, which was definitely a lie. I don’t teach on Mondays, but I’ll be damned if this crooked toothed dentist was going to fill me with anesthetics and drill.

“Yo, aha!” She proclaimed with understanding, “So, you must come back when you no work and then we fix.”

“Yes, of course” I said, another lie. There was not way in hell I was ever coming back to this crazy dentist whose teeth look like they belong to a homeless person (no offense to homeless people).

She continued with her non-verbal disapproval of my teeth, which I couldn’t help but find so hypocritical. Had she ever looked at her own teeth in a mirror?

“No, but this one, we must fix today.” She said shaking her hand and taping one of my lower molars.

“Why? What’s wrong?” I said, as I started to get annoyed with this situation.

“No, it is very bad. We must fix, but it is okay – we don’t need anesthetics. You come back later for anesthetics.” She said.

Okay, I thought. Maybe she will just clean this one tooth and then I can be free to go, but I wanted to make sure. “Okay, but what is wrong with it? Why is it bad?” I asked.

“It is the, how do you say it, the plaque. Very bad plaque” Dr. Black-Yellowed-Teeth stated plainly. Fine, I thought to myself. Plaque I can deal with. Just scrape it off like you were supposed to do 10 minutes ago and get me the hell out of here.

“Okay, but no anesthetics and only this tooth?” I asked, slightly worried that I had asked too many questions in one sentence and momentarily thinking of trying to say it in Czech.

“Yes, only this tooth and no anesthetics.” She said as she started going through her tools.

“Okay” I say with relief and start to relax again.

“Open!” she commanded as she pulled a long tool attached to a cord out and immediately began doing something loud that didn’t sound anything at all like the sound of plaque being scraped off a tooth with metal. Suddenly a shooting pain went through my jaw and I winced so she stopped.

“No, ahh” she motions for me to spit. So, I spit in the little sink next to me, not really sure what’s going on. Suddenly I notice white paste in my spit. I wipe my mouth and notice more white paste – or was it white powder? Was it…my tooth? My tongue immediately goes to the “bad tooth” and feels a deep hole. I begin to shake. At that moment Dr. Drill-Baby-Drill gets a call on her mobile and takes it, saying as she walks away, “moment”. My shaking increases with incredible force. I have visions of my little puppy shaking like California when we try to get her to go for a walk outside. Oh my God, this crazy woman has just drilled a hole in my perfectly good tooth! I hear her laughing on her stupid phone in the other room. Tears well up in my eyes. I jump shakily out of my chair and run to my bag and search for my own phone. I realize I can’t just run away seeing as I have a gaping hole in my molar – where the hell am I supposed to go? I call my husband in a panic. As soon as he answers I say in near hysteria, “This crazy fucking dentist has just drilled a hole in my tooth. Can you please tell her in Czech to fix it, that she must put some kind of filling in and that I don’t want her to do anything else because I need to leave here now.”

“What, calm down honey. What happened? What’s going on?” he asks concerned.

“I don’t know, she’s crazy!” the tears start rolling out now, “Just tell her to fix it and to leave me alone!” At this point Dr. Black-Yellowed-Teeth returns and says, “ohh” as though I actually were my puppy shaking with fear. “Here she is!” I say hurriedly to Nick and hand her the phone without any explanation. The Doctor takes the phone hesitantly. Moments later she starts talking about anesthetics and I don’t know what in Czech. After a moment she gives the phone back to me.

“She says she needs to give you anesthetics to fill the hole, but that she can do it later and put like a paste in there now, until you can come back for the filling” Nick kindly explains.

“What?!? No, I don’t want anesthetics. I don’t want any of this. Can’t she fix it without the anesthetics? I didn’t want this!” I hand the phone back to the Dentist. Her and Nick talk for a longer time and I notice her voice getting louder and louder – clearly more agitated. Finally, she gave the phone back to me.

“Okay, so they are going to give you a paste. I’m really sorry. She said you could go to another Doctor for the filling.” Says Nick apologetically.

“Oh my God. Okay, thank you, I’ll call you later.” I hang up with him. The Doctor is now clearly pissed.

“I give you paste, see. You must come back for anesthetics for filling. I can’t do filling without anesthetic.” She almost yells as she forces my mouth open and starts putting some kind of clay into the hole in my tooth

I am no longer worried about being rude. “I never wanted a filling! I don’t want anesthetics! How long will this paste last? I can’t come back for anesthetics for a long time”. I say this because I can’t! I’m going to Germany next week and I had to wait a whole month just to get this appointment. I can’t decide which is worse – having this lunatic go ahead and fill this unnecessary hole or go for a month with a painful hole in my molar.

The doctor simply yells into the next room for some girl who apparently speaks English to translate. This bitchy looking skinny as a toothpick, bleached blond, leather high-heeled boots, short-skirt wearing whore comes in. The Dentist starts rattling off in Czech for her to explain to me everything that she has already told me. The whore starts explaining to me in English in a very snotty way what the doctor has just said, which I have already heard in English and understood in Czech, so I cut her off.

“I know, I understand, but how long can I wait until I get the filling? I’m going to Germany next week.”

“Then get it filled in Germany” the whore replies sarcastically.

“Great idea, but I don’t have health insurance in Germany” I say, unable to convey sarcasm in my shaky state, but still attempt to.

“Right” the whore replies, still trying to act superior.

At this point I’m completely fed up. “Plus, I have read that anesthetics are not safe for pregnant women. How can you give me anesthetics, don’t you know I’m pregnant?!”

The Dentist huffs, “What are you saying? Of course, all anesthetics are okay for pregnant woman!!”

For me, this is the last straw. I am so sick of these Czech doctors who don’t seem to know anything about what’s safe and what’s not safe for pregnant women. I realize that I’m not a doctor and the only knowledge I have comes from books and the internet, but I have read a number of research studies about what is safe and what isn’t for pregnant women. Even if I’m wrong, these Doctors shouldn’t act like I’ve said something profoundly stupid- they should at least have knowledge that such questions have been raised and studied and have an educated response, not huffing and acting shocked that I would think that anesthetics may not be the safest thing for the growing baby inside my womb!

In exasperation and probably with American superiority that I can’t help but feel at this moment I honestly ask, “I don’t understand! How can American Doctors be so different from Czech Doctors? How can American science be completely different from Czech science? It doesn’t make sense!” This is something I have asked myself, my husband and a number of others many times, because I don’t understand how science can be so different in different parts of the world. Where is globalization when I need it?!

At this point the dentist is very offended. She gets up and storms out of her office telling her nurse in Czech that she doesn’t have time to deal with this and to ask me to leave. The nurse doesn’t have to. I get up, still shaking and close to tears. The nurse gives me back my pregnancy booklet. I can see that they had actually written in my book and stamped it saying I was okay, but then had covered this place with white stickers. Wow. So professional.

I grabbed my things and left. It was horrible. This crazy woman had drilled a hole in my tooth! She hadn’t cleaned my teeth, hadn’t x-rayed them, hadn’t even looked at them for more than a few minutes before she decided to drill, baby, drill on my innocent tooth!

It’s been 12 hours since this incident. My tooth is aching more and more. Since I’m pregnant, my teeth are much more sensitive than normal (that’s part of the reason pregnant women aren’t supposed to have major work done on their teeth unless it’s absolutely necessary!!). Luckily, Nick has a good friend who is a brilliant, young, pearly white-toothed up and coming dentist who works in Brno and who will treat me/fix me there. Even he was shocked by this Dentist’s behavior and complete lack of knowledge. He told me to keep the tooth very clean and it shouldn’t fall out. I wish I could say he was joking when he said it, but he’s actually a pretty serious guy.

So, that’s my story. My day continued to suck with a few small highlights here and there, but this is an experience I will never forget. Right now I want to get the hell away from this country and I can’t even consider raising my children in this kind of environment. We will see…

Now I just keep hearing the one-armed man say in my head, “And that is why you don’t go to a dentist in the Czech Republic!”

Charlie

Here's a picture of our LITTLE baby. It looks just like me, don't you think?;) It was taken about 2 1/2 weeks ago at an ultrasound. It was AMAZING! We got to hear the babies heart and watch it wriggle around. The baby even waved at us! At that time it was about 3 1/2 inches long, but has already grown more than an inch since then. We don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet. We decided not to find out and just wait until the baby is born. Part of the reason is that if it's a girl, I don't want to get stuck with a bunch of pink stuff, but also because it's kind of fun to wait and do it the old fashioned way. However, we've nicknamed the baby Charlie for several reason. For one, it's a gender neutral name (well, as much as Sam is anyway). Also, we live at Charlie Chaplin Square and our baby is due around Charlie Chaplin's birthday! 

At my last appointment they gave me a new due date (after the ultrasound and running a bunch of blood tests). Sorry Christina, but the baby's new due date is April 19. If you're lucky the baby will wait around for another week:) April 19th is Pavel, Nick's youngest brother's birthday and my Aunt Tina's birthday. It's also the day before Hitler's birthday. Lucky little baby of mine;)

Today the baby is 16weeks and 5 days old - by the doctors count, which counts about 2 weeks before the baby was actually conceived. I have no idea why they do it this way, but even all of the pregnancy books I've been reading use the same count. So, far I've had a challenging pregnancy. The first trimester was terrible. I was completely exhausted and nauseous ALL THE TIME. I lived on toast and constant sleep. During this time I got a bladder infection and diarrhea the same week (sorry for you who are more sensitive, but I have to tell it like it is). My nose is constantly full - a strange side effect from the massive amount of hormones ranging through my body. I've had a terrible sinus infection for nearly a month and have started a coughing like an old lady who smokes 2 packs of cigarettes a day. I can't take hardly any medicine because it can hurt the baby. I'm also supposed to be really careful about what I eat. Apparently, sugar is the devil, however I love the devil and succumb to it's powers all the time. I hope it doesn't mess Charlie up too much. I'm trying to eat healthy, but for whatever reason I'm just completely turned off to most veggies and fruit. It's bizarre, because normally I crave healthy food like that. I guess my baby is really and truly czech, so pass the meat and potatoes and give me cream-filled dumplings for dessert!

I haven't got much of a belly yet, but I actually got in trouble for gaining weight to quickly at my last gyno appointment on Tuesday. I gained 3 kilos (or about 6.6 lbs) in 4 weeks. I'm only supposed to gain 1 pound a week. So, I'm trying to exercise more and eat healthier, but I didn't make any promises to my doctor... I have no aspirations to become a MILF. If this is the end of my figure, so be it. I'm sure I'll regret this in the future, but for now I'm not going to worry about it. I do have to be careful not to gain too much weight because it can really hurt the baby, but I don't think I will gain that much. There's no Taco Bell in this country, so I'm safe. 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I recently made these and brought them to school where they were a huge hit for my students! I got the basis for the recipe here at allrecipes.com (my favorite cooking website!) However, I made a few changes, some of which were due to the fact that oatmeal is kind of different here. So, if you are in america, just click on the link above and substitute a cup of oatmeal for a cup of chocolate CHUNKS (just cut up a plain chocolate bar), otherwise read on:

1 C butter

1 C white sugar

1 C brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla (vanilinovy cukr)

2 C flour (hladka svetla)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt (just normal 'sul')

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (skorice)

1 C ovesne vlocky + 1 C ovesne vlocky jemne OR 2 C ovesne vlocky jemne (if you just want to buy one)

1 C chocolate chips (2 chocolate bars chopped up into little squares)

1. Melt the butter on a low heat (1 or 1 1/2 on your dial). You can cut it into pieces to make it melt faster. Once it is melted take it off the stove so it can begin to cool. Add the white and brown sugar and stir. Mix in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the Vanilla. 

2. Separately combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. 

3. Mix in the dry powder combination from #2

4. Mix in the oats (ovesne vlocky) and chocolate a little at a time

5. Cover the dough and put it in the refrigerator for at least one hour (it can be up to several days. I found the cookies were better when the dough was in the refrigerator overnight)

6. Pre-heat the oven to 190C

7. Roll the dough into small balls (I usually use a small spoon) and put them in rows on a greased cookie sheet (square pan that has a little bit of butter on it, so the cookies don't stick to it). Make sure they are far enough a part so they won't stick together.

8. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes (keep an eye on them, make sure they are fully cooked, but aren't burnt). Then let them cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them from the pan. Use a knife, fork or spatula to remove them.

9. EAT

Almond Butter

Almond Butter is a lot like Peanut butter, but with almonds. For some reason I have always hated peanuts and peanut butter, but I love every other nut to death (especially my husband). 

- pre-heat the oven to 150 C
- Put about 2 cups of regular almonds on a pan. Spread them out so they are not on top of each other.
- put the almonds in the oven on the top shelf for about 10 minutes, take them out and stir them around once or twice during this time. Make sure they don't burn. They should turn into a rich brown color. If they become dark brown our black then they are burned and you can't use them.
- Take the almonds out and let them cool a bit. Then put them in your food processor and process! It takes a long time, but be patient, eventually it will turn into mush. You can also add a few spoon fulls of olive oil to help it turn into "butter". I used about 3 tsps.
- Then, viola! You've got almond butter! Be sure to keep it refrigerated so it lasts longer. Alone the almond butter isn't the greatest thing in the world. I personally like it on toast with either a bit of cinnamon on top or with sliced bananas on top or both. It's really healthy and filling!

 Enjoy!

ps. I ate mine so fast that I didn't have time to take pictures. I'll make it again soon and post some pics. I put the almond butter in a used nutella jar that we had saved - it was perfect for storing it!

The Beginning

I've decided to become a blogger. My facebook addiction has become so intense that I've decided to try other e-drugs to get my high. This blog I've decided to dedicate to several endeavors; 

1) Recipes - lots of people have been asking me for my various recipes lately, so I've decided to start posting them! I like to invent new things or new ways of making things since I live in a foreign country and need Mexican food and American baked goods to survive.

2) Posts - I'm constantly seeing things I want to post on facebook, but I don't want to drive everyone crazy since all of my facebook friends are forced to see what I post, so now you can pick and choose .

3) Random Thoughts of "the traditional blogger"

So, let me begin.

Cooking Conversions:

You can do your own specific conversions here (like if you aren't too good at math) or you can just get a basic conversion, which is what I usually use, here. 

Temperature:

Fahrenheit   Celsius

250                 130

300                150

350                180

400                200

Some tips for those of us in Cz:

Butter - when a recipe calls for butter I usually buy the nicer butter that's not for cooking. I don't know what the difference is, but it mixes better for me than the baking 'maslo'. Most recipes call for 1 cup of butter, so I just buy a square of butter and cut off the an end which makes up about 10% of the butter square. I almost always melt the butter on low heat so that it mixes easily, but I let it cool off a bit first.

Brown Sugar - You can now get something that's nearly real brown sugar and it's not terribly expensive!! They sell it for sure at Billa and I think its called 'prirodne cukr' - natural sugar, which I suppose it is, but it seems like natural sugar and brown sugar's love child to me, but maybe I've just been away from authentic b.s. for too long. Anyhow, some people add molasses to make things more like brown sugar, but I've never done this. 

Flour - I always use 'Hladka Svetla' for everything.

Eggs - I always wash the eggs first and crack them in a glass before putting in something, since the eggs here are covered in nasty shit. I don't want any of that getting in my yummy sweets! I also usually use Large eggs or sometime Medium eggs if they are on sale. 

Milk - I usually use fresh milk instead of the boxed non-refrigerated stuff. It simply tastes better. It's worth a few extra koruny  (and occasionally it's actually cheaper!)

Baking Soda = Jedla Soda

Baking Powder = kyprici prasek

Vanilla = I'm lucky enough to get my supply from my mom. Traditional American vanilla doesn't exist in this country, but luckily "Vanilinovy Cukr" does. So, if you need a substitution, use this and just use the same measurements. 

Chocolate = I never use baking chocolate "Pecene Cokolada" Normal chocolate is awesome, why substitute it? However, I always just buy the cheapest normal milk chocolate I can find. Milka's too rich for my cookies. 

*For Czechs:

Tsp = Teaspoon

Tbs or Tbsp = Tablespoon

C = Cup

*I never measure anything precisely. I just have this thing about it - I want my cookies to be mine. If I follow a recipe exactly and use a knife to make sure I don't put in too much or too little of something then I feel like I've sinned and that I'm being artificial. I know it's weird. My mom always measures precisely and I love everything  she makes, but I'm not my mom. I like to taste and test. When something tastes the way I want it, then I've measured well. If it doesn't, it's time to add something. 

*I apologize for my terrible Czech spelling. I'm too lazy to look up the correct spelling or even switch over to a Czech keyboard, but I think everything is pretty clear. Feel free to ask if you don't understand something! I'll also try to put the Czech words as I write the recipes from time to time if it isn't obvious like cukr. 

and now for some recipes...