...

Hi Everyone!

I hope this blog post finds you well. :) It's been a good past few days, and I've got some new pictures up to prove it...

Like I mentioned before, my friend Emily came to visit me for a few days! This time away from home has definitely shown me that I have some of the the best friends a girl could ask for, and I have been so blessed to have so many people come to see me while I've been gone! (I know part of it is the fact that I'm in EUROPE, but I like to think they wouldn't have necessarily come it if I wasn't included :) I also know there are many more of you whose hearts are here with me, even if your bank accounts are not. :)



I took some time off of school and spent some quality time walking around the city. We also took a day trip to Karlovy Vary, a spa town about 2 hours north west of Prague, close to the German border. It was a quaint little place with lots of pretty buildings, a river running through the middle, and lots of natural hot springs with fountains to drink out of. The water temperatures ranged from warm to really really hot, and all of them tasted pretty nasty. :) Anything for one's health, I guess... We almost missed our bus home, but after running at full speed once we realized/saw where the stop was, we climbed on board and relaxed the rest of the way home.

Classes and tutoring are going well. It's hard to believe the end of the school year is almost here! I also just realized (as I am writing this) that this is my first year completing it as a TEACHER rather than a STUDENT... crazy. I guess teaching over here has often felt like another one of my practicums in college, maybe because of the different schedule that I have, including private tutoring, etc. But in reality, I really am a "first-year" teacher, and that first year is almost at it's end...



That also means my time here is quickly closing. I'm not really letting myself think about that yet though - both because I will get too excited to come home and homesick because it's still a ways away, but also because I will get too sad, thinking about saying goodbye to the beautiful city and good friends I've made here! Everything in it's own time...

This past Thursday I gave a Veggie Tales DVD (in English) as well as both an English and Czech Bible to the family that I tutor. I wanted to say thank you to them for inviting me into their home each week, and teaching me things about the Czech Republic. I've enjoyed my time with them so much! I also thought this would be a great way for them to practice their English, and simply give them the opportunity to read something that I'm pretty sure they've never read before. You can pray with me that God will speak to them through His Word and reveal His love to them in ways they've never experienced before! And also that He will continue to use these last few weeks that I have with them, to show them more of His love.

Anyway, that's all for now. Have a wonderful rest of your week!!

P.S. And here's the link to some more pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013341&id=142700074&l=430bd8de87