PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

Hello Everyone,

Greetings from Praha (Prague is what we call it in English). Monday morning, (Feb 7th) we traveled from Ostrava to Prague, a four hour train ride.  The train passed through a lot of scenic villages and Czech cities.  We arrived in Prague, on Teresa's birthday, so we immediately left the train to meet her friends for a party at an Indian Restaurant.  That's right, Indian Food in Prague!!! Mmm Mmmm, it was excellent! We had a wonderful time with Teresa's friends. Especially, Irena and Jena. (pronounced Yen-ya). Irena and Jena were both born in the Czech under communism but became Christians. This is a rare thing in a country where there are only a few Christan churches. And none of them larger than 300 parishioners. Irena and Jena told us some of the stories about living under communism. What an intense political rule to grow up under. Most of the Czech people who grew up under communism, tend to show very little emotion, smile very rarely and never really speak up for themselves. (unless there is alcohol involved!) But these two had a lot of joy! :-)

They both work with youth groups.  Jena is also an amazing bass player and plays with a lot of worship teams. Irena is an awesome teacher, and bringing the gospel and her faith to the Czech, one student at a time. They were both very nice and I'm sure that we will stay in touch. There is nothing better than hearing people's stories when they are speaking earnestly.  That is one of the things that I love about traveling; the people you meet! Prauge is so beautiful. Here are some pictures.

We left the restaurant and walked around the corner to Old Town Square, (In Czech it's called Staromestske Namesti) then we went to Charles Bridge. OH MY GOSH!!!! Michelle and I dropped our jaws!! We are SOOOOOO amazed by the beauty of this city! I felt like I was walking around in Tristan and Isolt, Excalibur and The Lord of The Rings! Castles, Towers, Stone Bridges over rivers, Heralds announcing the time of day... just beautiful.  Prague has become my new FAVORITE city! The public transportation is great and it's a walk-about city. I LOVE IT! I strongly suggest that everyone visit this place at least once in their lifetime.

The next day we visited the school where Irena teaches.  We were asked to address her students in English. (they rarely get a chance to speak English to native speakers) The students were precious and a lot of fun to talk to. Then we went out to lunch and for the first time, ate some BAD food! (First time since we've been in the Czech) But it was very cheap. Travel Tip #5: You get what you pay for! Don't eat places just because they are cheaper!

Then we went back to our temporary flat so I could do some work, and the ladies got ready to go to a Jazz Club, Arghata.  It is a club in town, located in underground Prague.  I was bummed that I had to work, but I did get to go the next night. They said it was awesome.

The next day we met Irena again for a tour of the city. She knows a lot about the history of Prague and is very proud of her Czech heritage.  She told us a lot of the inside stories about the buildings and we learned quite a bit.  Then we went to a mid day jam session with Jena, his roommate (a drummer) and another singer. It was great fun. . We played for about two hours. Jena actually jumped in on our originals and played them like he had heard them all his life. Very cool. We are so appreciated musically over here. They invited OYKOS to come back and do a Czech tour... we told them we would LOVE to. So if you are a booking agent reading this, give us a holler!

After dinner, (this time it was good... and not cheap!), we went back to the underground Jazz Club to hear Teresa's other jazz friends play; Jacub and Vitek. These are the friends that Teresa performed with at the Castle for the President of Czech Republic. (how cool is that???) This Arghata Jazz Club is so cool, it's like Jazz in an underground cave with great atmosphere. I love the city of Prague and it's people!!

Blessings,

Seer