Ski Camp!

Enjoy the video above. It is from my exciting adventure at Lyzak! aka a week of skiing every Czech student in their freshman year of high school goes on with their class. This year I had the joy of going for a week to the mountains with 50 high schoolers. Not only that, but I was also the snowboarding instructor! Somehow I managed to give snowboarding tips in Czech, a miracle in itself, and the students understood me, well, at least I think they did? Does it all sound too good to be true? It should! It was a great time, but, as I say, it's no Colorado. The ski run took a total of 60 seconds to go down and then the fun 3 minute ride up (see video for my excitement). With all that aside, it really was a great trip and I enjoyed "the nature," students and my fellow teachers. Oh yeah, one more part, I went cross country skiing for the first time ever; I fell . . . a lot! Sometimes that flat ground can be more tricky than the mountain!!!

A Year in the Making - Video

In the middle of August, Christian Czechs teachers I do student ministry with and I attended Christian Associates Southern European staff conference held in Portugal. The conference included people from France, Spain, Portugal, and . . . the Czech Republic. Even though we were the only country with out any beaches or coast to speak of, we still had a great time of fellowship and encouragement hearing how God is moving all across Europe. We put together the video below for people to get a glimpse of how we have been living out and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Czech over the past year. Enjoy!!!

Awww BATS

Yeah! My brother Dustin is here in Prague visiting me for 10 days. It was a nice little high school graduation present to take his first trip to Europe to see me - such a lucky guy. We've had a wonderful time, even though when you ask him how it's been he gives a very unenthusiastic "Fine." Our "fine" time has included tours of Prague, lots of Czech food, trying to meet all the amazing people I know here (again, lucky for him, many of the people I know are his age), a trip to Munich and the BMW Museum, cooking experiments, and, my favorite, a trip to the Prague Zoo.

The highlight of the zoo? Watching the fruit bats, which are allowed to fly out of their "cave" to where the innocent observers are watching. I don't mind bats, neither does my brother, so we had no problem standing there for several minutes watching them. The reason it was the highlight was because of what I noticed when we were back outside - BAT POOP! on my butt! Yup, I got pooped on by a bat at the zoo. Thinking back to the time inside, I had felt something wet on my arm, which I then proceeded to wipe on my brother's white t-shirt (as any good sister would), but it was dark, so I didn't really think to much about it. For the rest of the day I got to laugh about the whole thing (the bat poop washed off) and telling my brother he had something on his shirt - I laughed, he didn't, all in all a great day at the zoo!

Young Life on the Roof

Every week I volunteer with Young Life club. The other week I got a panic phone call saying we couldn't meet in our normal location 3 hours before club was suppose to start. So I offered up our apartment for the club, which is only 5 minutes away. Normally there are about 15 Czech students who come, many are nonbelievers. This week, of course at a time when we have a lot less room, we had 15 people from a youth group in Bath, England to help out with our club in English. 30 people did not fit into our living room at all, so we had to take it to the roof. There were games, singing and a message about Jesus saying "I am the bread of life." The video is a song our visitors from Bath sang for the students (and our neighbors). It was awesome and an experience none of us will soon forget.

note to self . . .

Trying to swim competitively after no training at all for four years - not the best idea I've ever had ; ) Next time you should practice and beware that 100 meters is a lot longer than you remember.
Love,
Kara, 24 years old and out of shape

Jsem Medved - Vrrrr!

Well, I never thought I would have an acting career in Czech theater, but, like so many other unexpected things that have happened since I moved to this country - I was wrong. If you look at the beautiful picture to the right and that really scaring looking person in the middle - that is me! I played a bear, a challenging role considering Czech bears say "Vrrrrr!" instead of the English "Grrrr!" I know what your thinking - the practice and concentration to prepare for such a change in culture! It was a ton of fun. The play was called King Ubu, all in Czech, and was performed by students (and a couple teachers) from the high school I teach at. We performed the play at a festival put on by and for people in the high school, and even had an encore performance at a theater in the center of Prague for parents, friends and students! In addition to my bear acting, I also got to say a few words in Czech as a nobleman and then was thrown from the stage. All in a days work . . .

English Camp Summer '08

At the bottom of my blog is a slideshow from English Camp. They are put on by a ministry (Josiah Venture) who works with church youth groups throughout the year and in the summer several English Camps are provided. A team of native English speakers, in our case a great group of 15 Northern Irish come - close enough to English ; ) and join up with a local Czech youth group here in Prague. People from the youth group invite their friends and I had a couple of students at the camp too. English is taught, the fun is non-stop, and the Gospel is shared! Even though I was a strange Colorado girl living in Prague, the NI team "took me in" and made me feel like I had always been a part of their group. And the same was true with the Czech youth group at the camp. Actually, I was confused if I was suppose to be Czech, Irish, or American, so I was a little of everything.

It was so great to be at an English Camp because I have heard sooo much about them. In fact, I first heard about the Czech Republic from people who were part of an American team going to EC. And most of the younger Christians in the Czech became Christians because of the camps. AND, Petra was my roomie at camp - pretty awesome, I'm on my way to see her tomorrow morning and can't wait. It is such an encouragement to be with her and to see how on fire she is to pursue the Lord! In June, Petra will be going to Northern Ireland to help prepare this year’s team to come serve again in the Czech.

Czech out Josiah Ventures website for the work their doing in the Czech Republic:
http://www.josiahventure.com/locations/location.php?locationID=cz

The Address

In case you don't have it and are just dying to send me a lil' something, here is my address in Prague:

Kara Swindler
Lublanska 34
Praha 2 120 00
Czech Republic

How much can happen in a year?

A lot! I will try to tell you some stories God has done over the last year, and for each one include a photo album (see left under "Pictures")

First I will begin with a little fun in the sun - Croatia!

At the end of June I went on a school trip with the high school I teach at. The trip was an amazing oppurtunity to spend more time with students than just the hour or two I teach them in school. It doesn't hurt that there was a beautiful beach and Sea involved as well. And, of course, being the only American with 50 Czechs, my second language was slightly improved ; )

The best part of this trip was getting to know the Czech Christian teachers I get to work alongside in sharing God's love with the students, mainly Zuska. God has been so gracious in bringing her friendship into my life, someone who is passionate about serving the Lord with her life, loving those around her, and a great sense of humor!

ONE YEAR

I guess the title pretty much says it all. It's been one year since I moved to Prague to begin this crazy adventure.