Prague!

So I haven't done this in ages - in fact, I can't remember the last time I had a girls' weekend. However, the opportunity arose for me to visit Prague with two girlfriends last weekend. We were able to stay cheaply in the American embassy housing which left more money for us to spend on the neat trinkets and gifts we bought with our Czech Koruna. At 17 Koruna to $1 we felt rich! I don't think Patrick thought my reasoning was particularly sensible, but regardless, it wasn't an expensive weekend considering I was in PRAGUE!
My friend, Jane, and I just arrived at Prague International. We are waiting for the bus that will take us to the metro into town to meet our other friends.
The John Lennon Wall. Originally painted in 1983 by a Mexican student as a protest to Communism in the country. It has become a symbol of freedom and student protests over the years and painted over and over again by many other people.
I do not know the significance of the locks on this fence by the water wheel. It probably has something to do with the country's history, but I couldn't find any information on it in my book.
View of the Charles River. I just thought this was beautiful.Prague Castle


The guards in front of the castle. We also caught the changing of the guard which was totally cool to watch.
Astronomical Clock in the squareAs always I like to get pictures of the local foods. These platefuls might look disgusting, but the food in Prague was very, very good. We did eat well all weekend!

My friend, Kris, her friend from Maryland, and me - sitting in the square under that astronomical clock enjoying dinner.

All in all a great trip. Can't wait to do it again in March - this time, Marrakesh!

The Sting Story

Okay, so after my big blog about the wasps' nest in our attic, I realized I'd failed to share a pertinent story from my summer with you.

It's pertinent due to its English-ness. It demonstrates much of what life is like here - at least, in how people relate to each other.

You may remember that in August, Emily visited us from Minnesota. We had a great time showing her around the English countryside as well as spending a couple of days in London.

Well, her last full day came around. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Unfortunately rare for this part of the country.

So I decided we should take a picnic lunch to our favorite little Cotswold village where we take all our out-of-town guests.

A very sweet little river runs through the entire town of Bourton-on-the-Water. The kids love to bring their wellies and wade and feed the ducks. It was so beautiful that many people were visiting that day. We spread out our carpet and had a lovely lunch. We had to throw the orange peels away as soon as we ate them as the "bees" were hovering all over us.

Because it was Emily's last day, I wanted to make her favorite meal for dinner. She requested pasta, salad and bread.

So, Joshua took all our gear back to the car, Emily stayed in the park with Gillian, and Aidan and I went to the little grocery on the High Street to pick up the necessary dinner items.

As we entered the shop, I heard a "bee" buzzing nearby. But it went away shortly. I didn't even get a basket - I just picked up the cheese, pasta, lettuce, tomato and cucumber. Aidan, big helper that he is, carried our fresh baguette for me.

We got into the queue. It was a long queue. One cashier. Story of my life. Aidan was being very good.

All of a sudden, I felt something crawling on me. On the inside of my shirt. On my left shoulder.

I squealed. I grabbed the neck of my shirt with my left hand and said, "There's a bee in my shirt! There's a bee in my shirt!"

The lady in front of me didn't even turn around. She completely ignored me.

The man behind me started to reach for the opening of the neck of my shirt when he stopped and said, in a very English accent,

"Um, I'd like to help you, but it's a very DELICATE situation."

I said,

"I don't care! Get it out, please! Get it OUT!"

That's when it stung my thumb as I tried to shoe it out.

Then it stung my shoulder as it flew out under the sleeve by my armpit.

And it HURT.

In the meantime, nobody else said or did anything. Except Aidan. He looked up at me and promptly dropped the bread on the floor.

Because he was holding it in the plastic bag - upside down.

Rather than get out of queue I picked that bread up, dusted it off, and we ate it for dinner.

The man behind me commiserated with me - sharing how he had been stung that very morning while walking his dog - telling me how much it hurt. And what kind of ointment to put on it.
Didn't really make me feel much better. It stung for several days, and I had tiny bruises in those spots for weeks.

So now, I realize that it must have been a wasp that stung me. Don't bees sting only once? I've seen 'The Bee Movie' more than once to know that ...

And yes, I'm very, very thankful that not one of my peeps was stung by any of the creepy wasps hanging out just above our heads.

What's the Difference Between a Bee and a Wasp?

I'm not entirely sure except that wasps are capable of stinging you more than once. Which means that this summer when I was in the grocery shop in Bourton-on-the-Water I was stung by a wasp, not a bee. That's another story for another blog post.

However, wasps look a lot like bees. So when we kept finding "bees" in our home - specifically in Joshua's room - we just thought they were bees. However, in the past couple of weeks the infestation grew to unacceptable proportions. Joshua was keeping the fly swatter in his room. That's how bad it was getting.

So we called our letting agency to let them know we had a hive in the eaves near Joshua's room, and we needed to have someone come remove it.

And they told us that bees are now an endangered species and we had to leave it alone. However, since the weather is growing colder they will leave/hibernate and not bother us very much longer.

Okay. Well, alright then.

Then we had some English friends pop by, and they noticed all the "bees" flying around that part of the house, and the wife said, "Looks like you've got a big wasps nest up there!"

Wasps? Really? EWWWWWWWW. Not that bees are much better as far as I'm concerned, but she recognized these little bee-looking bugs as wasps.

So another phone call to the letting agency. They sent a pest control guy over right away.

He wanted to know if we had been in the attic and noticed any wasps up there. Um, no. So he got his ladder and popped into our attic space. His gasp was audible. The biggest nest he'd seen all season, he said. Do you want to see? No, not really. Oh, come on up here and take a look. You HAVE to see it so you know I'm not lying about how big it is. Nothing will sting you. Well, okay.

When I told Patrick and Caitlin and Artur about the size of this nest, I do believe they thought I was exaggerating. So yesterday I made Patrick get up there and take photos. To prove it.

In the meantime the pest control guy used a gigantic syringe to poison the nest and they all died. You can see them laying there dead on the attic floor.

Homeschooling Fun

Joshua got to make a volcano for science a few weeks ago. This was something I always wanted to do when I was a kid - every single science fair I ever entered there was that kid whose dad had made him the giant volcano. That was never me. My parents made me do my own projects ... and they never looked like the cool volcano!

Well, we made Joshua make his own project, but he got to do the volcano. It was totally fun.