There and back to Czech (22-25/8)

Traditionally we spent a night in Plzeň had dinner together at the old town’s U Salzmannů that we both enjoyed. Here Maarten told me about his wish to live in Czech Republic permanently. He said he loves hearing people speaking Czech, he wants attend a Czech school and that he actually dislikes the Dutch language! Well, I’m sure that his wish to live close to his favorite babi is of a great influence, but still, he always finds a way how to surprise me.
Walking back to the hotel we had to cross the old square and I took him to the outer altar of the St. Bartholomews church to touch the head of an angel that is supposed to bring good luck.
Without doubt to him this was a truly magical moment.


Next day we finally arrived to babi’s and Maarten got all answers to his never-ending questions such as “what are the doggies going to say, when they see me?”




They were all happy to see each other again so I left the next day for Plzeň to meet up with my past school friends. Unfortunately I got stuck in an awful traffic jam just outside of Prague and because the tropical heats afflicted Central Europe those days, without an air-conditioning it must have been at least 45 °C in the car!

Luckily chilling out at the many terraces of downtown Plzeň with my friends made all well again.

I was afraid the Plzeň's football fans will keep me up that night as there was an important match between Plzen en Copenhagen. But heavy showers, hail, lightning, thunder and strong wind chased almost all the fans away from the square where thousands were watching the match on a giant screen. What a storm!

Even though I was happy for my hometown to beat the Danes I didn’t get much sleep that night, but somehow, miraculously I got safe home the day after not even feeling tired.

Fingers crossed!

What we feared has now become a reality as we are having a hard time getting our medical clearance for living in Angola.

I truly wish that keeping a positive attitude makes a difference and has a real impact on what shall happen.
But for now, it's kind of hard for me.

Please, keep your fingers crossed for good news!

About daydreamers and injuries

After weeks spent behind the PC trying to arrange all necessary documents for the Angolan visa, we were excited to go out on the hills of Wallonia again. As soon as we left the village of Grand Monchau and took the grassy path between fields Rob suddenly fell down moaning in pain.
This was the end of our long desired family outing!

Rob severely twisted his ankle and later at the emergency room the X-ray showed a ligament injury as well as a small bone chip.

So, there goes our hiking trip to Slovak mountains!

Rob's got the below-knee cast to wear for at least two weeks. Even though he is moving around well with the crutches we hope his ankle is healing on schedule so he can progress to walking boot by the end of this week.

As I’m not such a good nurse, luckily, there was no blood this time and I can manage handing crutches, ice packs or coffee quite easily.


Other issue is to keep Maarten in safe distance from Rob’s ankle.
Maarten is such a fantasy-rich child and I love to watch him build houses for hedgehogs and squirrels in our backyard and gnome dwellings in the woods.
He can weave never-ending stories about his future life on an island catching sharks and riding dolphins.

But sometimes his fantasy filled imagination is kind of dangerous. Like Friday afternoon while biking together he decided he doesn’t need his eyes. At first I thought he is not serious but before I could even warn him not to do anything such stupid he crashed into me at full speed. I flew over the handlebars and landed on my face. I realized Maarten is somewhere under the two bikes but incredibly, he didn’t have a scratch! I noticed a car that stopped right in front of us. My right calf bone was killing me as well as the right ankle. In an awful pain and furious I managed to get Maarten’s handlebars out of my front wheel and got us off the road.

I’d rather spare you the juicy details for now as I'm off to garden enjoying lunch with my special company.

Enrollment at LIS and Cultural orientation

This blog is a mess. I’m back to English. Can’t help it, but searching for translation specific terms into Czech takes even more time and effort than writing some sentences in English, even though in bad English.
Yesterday we got confirmation that Maarten's application is complete and he is finally enrolled to the Luanda International School. At last we can leave that sorrow behind. It wasn’t as easy as it might look. Luckily our company has priority entry because, like the other schools in the area, also this school has a waiting list as long as two years.

Last night we had a virtual cultural orientation with Anita (coincidentally an American Dutch we met once back in San Ramon) from Intercultural Group and an Angolan national. Even though I already did a huge research on the internet and also contact with friends who spent years living in Luanda are a great source of information, Seteko gave us an interesting introduction to working with Angolans and to the cultural issues we will need to be aware of.