live. move. be.

A year ago today, I landed in Prague.

It's pretty hard to believe it's been a year. That day we landed was so awful....I remember being more sick, tired, disoriented, and unshowered...all I wanted to do is be clean and be asleep, and I couldn't do either one. Not only was everything in a language I didn't understand, but I had also lost my voice during orientation, so I couldn't introduce myself to any of the new people I was meeting for the first time.

I remember thinking that day: "I will not survive a whole summer here. Why did I do this, why did I come here?" It's almost funny to remember those first few days now, because things changed so quickly. Within a couple of weeks, I couldn't bear the thought of ever having to leave. I fell completely in love with that city.

That's not to say it wasn't difficult. It was without a doubt one of the most challenging times of my life in so many different ways. I was stretched and pushed and grew beyond what I could have imagined, and growth is rarely pleasant. Nothing brings out all the nastiness inside you like culture shock. All the customary layers of niceness are stripped away and you're left with how you really are, how you really relate to people in tension, where you really run when things get too hard. I saw things about myself I didn't want to see.

I think it took all that to see how much God loves me, how valuable I am, how safe and cared for I am, how not alone I am, how I am free to engage impossible situations even if I might (and do) fail.

I miss Prague so much. I miss all those experiences that taught me so much about myself, about the world, about God. I look out my window and I miss the view from my flat on Eliasova, at the little kitchen table where the sunlight poured in on my daily breakfast of chocolate Muesli. I want to walk out my door and see breathtaking architecture around every corner and the many little kavarnas (coffee shops) where I spent so many hours pouring words into my journal. I miss our sweet little church and all the loving people there. I even miss the small things, like hearing the woman's voice who spoke to us every time we stepped inside the metro doors: ""Ukončete prosím výstup. a nástup, dveře se zavírají. Příští stanice....(name of your next stop here)." I actually found an short little YouTube clip that is purely of that recording: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBaOzeNK0KE&feature=related&pos=14. It'll take you to lots of other videos that show you more of the Praha metro, too.


More than anything I miss the people. I met some of the most incredible, brave, adventurous, unique, talented, intelligent, loving people during that summer, and I feel honored to know them.

This summer is certainly turning out to be quite different, but still so good, in ways I couldn't have planned. I'm learning how to love my own city, to find beauty in the small things and the ordinary days.


I'm also pretty thrilled to be headed back to the Czech Republic for short visit before my semester in Scotland. I feel incredibly blessed to have experienced that city once in a lifetime, much less twice....

I want to write a thousand more memories, but I am falling asleep. Go look up pictures of Prague and make yourself blissfully happy!