Macedonia

So how do you start to explain a life-changing event like my trip to Skopje, Macedonia. It seems that no matter how many times I go over it my head, I can’t not think about the kids. I guess I should start at the begging; I was sent by my company to Macedonia to film a youth group that volunteered a week of their lives to work in a Roma community. Now the Roma are a nomadic people group that are typically scattered in and throughout central and eastern europe. Largely, they keep to themselves and do not associate with “Godjoe” or none Roma. For the past twelve years, Betty, a missionary living in Skopje has been working tirelessly to set up connections, encourage relationships, and tell the Roma about Jesus. Joined after three years by Karen, who has devoted her life to assisting Betty in spreading the love of Christ to these people. With Karen's medical background, she as been able to set up a program to provide limited medical needs for the Roma people. The Roma are impoverished, largely Muslim, and typically unemployed.



Through the missionaries, the Lord was able to open the opportunity for the youth group to come in. Three Fuge staffers gave their time and planned it down to a tee, while I got sent to document it all. What an incredible opportunity for me. I have been working for the past month and a half in one of the regional offices in Prague and it has been difficult for me just being in an office. They planned a sort of day camp for the kids jam-packed with activities, songs, crafts, and general goofiness. This trip was a breath of fresh air, I spent my days filming, playing football (soccer), dodgeball, hacki-sack, and showing kids something they’ve never seen before, a video camera. Most of the kids wore the same clothes every day, some of them didn’t have shoes, and most of them will never go to school. But their hearts are full, and they just wanted to play, hug, and love on us, which was funny because that was what we were all sent there to do for them.




On Thursday, we visited a playground in the Georgie-Patroff area that was surrounded by a recycling plant. Huge stacks of rusted metal, old cars, steel and iron pieces, and glass encircled the playground. By playground, I refer to a basketball court with a ten foot fence around it, situated on the outskirts of a Roma community where 30,000 live in a place designed for 10,000; overshadowed by the construction of a multi-million dollar American embassy complex. It made my stomach churn to see such needs unmet. Truly, I have seen the face of God in the eyes of those children. Because the law in Macedonia prohibits anyone from using religious propaganda of any kind in the country, our ministry was love, it was the first time those kids have gotten to experience anything like that before. What an incredible witness to us and them...



“Praise God to whom all blessings flow...”

-Bryan

Night at the Museum (Not to be associated with the Ben Stiller Flick)

DSC_0097, originally uploaded by **brittany**.

Night at the Museum... more then a movie... it's an experience... at least in Prague! Once a year the city hosts "Night at the Museum" where they open the museums and have events at the museums all for free. This year this fell on June 14, and we went.

Total there were 25 museums open and 51 events going on according to the website, but I feel like there was actually a lot more. We visited the Police Museum, National Gallery, Galerie Rudolfinum, Bridge Tower, and Bryan visited a composers house in passing while I ran back home to get the camera. At one point (National Gallery) we were in Old Town where amongst all the Museum hoppers were the Euro Cup patrons. it wasn't a Czech game, but the screens were up and people were having a celebration. Very busy night for Prague.

Perhaps my favorite part was the Tower Bridge. Bryan had gone up in the tower when he was here before, but that was also in the day time. We were lucky enough to be there on an amazingly clear night and we had the camera. We had to improvise but I feel like we got some amazing pictures.

Every day continues to be a learning experience. This week Bryan is in Macedonia and when I talked to him (briefly) he seemed very excited and to be enjoying himself. He made it there safely, so just continue to keep him in your prayers for the duration of his trip. I should be deciding on the English camp soon, just waiting to see a few things about work before committing.

We did get to talk to some of the family this weekend via Skype which was nice. It's an amazing program, especially if you are living abroad! It's hard to believe we are one-third of the way through our time here. It is getting to be more of a lifestyle and less of a trip, we are adjusting. The duration of our time here I feel will go quite quickly because our calenders are a little busier, especially from now until the end of July. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this updated as well as the pictures, but we will be very busy... I will do my best.

-Brittany

Euro Cup 2008

FILE0019, originally uploaded by **brittany**.

It's always an interesting time when you happen to be in a country during a national event. When I was in Costa Rica I remember watching a soccer game in a local hang out verse Ecuador. It was a big deal. The locals were ready to fight if you were there for Ecuador and not for Costa Rica. Luckily, we were rooting for the right team!

There really is nothing like experiencing the local culture and seeing beyond the historical buildings and touristy culture. We went to the Old Town Square for the second game the Czech Republic played in the Euro Cup. There was a few places in Prague to watch where they had these HUGE big screens set up with people everywhere. The one in Old Town had two screens, booths, sponsors handing freebies out, and lots of people. It was actually different than Costa Rica because I saw a lot of flags for Czech, but also a fair amount of Portugal flags as well. And we did almost see a fight break out, but it wasn't between the two teams, but between two locals... possibly homeless... possibly drunk. We followed the crowd and tried to step away just a little bit.

However entertaining the experience was, we left a little before half time to go to a friends and watch it sitting down, and where we could see just a little better. Czech Republic lost... but they're not out yet. They have a game Saturday and pending if they win or lose they'll continue on (or not).

(The photo shows the screen in front of the Church of our Lady Before Tyn. A prime example of the modernizing being set amongst the local tradition and history.)

Bryan is leaving for Macedonia very early Sunday morning and will return late Friday night. That means I'll be doing the Prague thing without him for a few days. If anyone wants to come visit next week... feel free! I am also still trying to decide on the English Camp. I've been approved to go by work, but still need to decide if I'm really wanting to do it or not.

Be sure to check out our Flickr site, I've added a fair amount of pictures from the zoo, Dresden, and just some other shots from around town!


-Brittany

Getting Adjusted

Sorry it's been awhile for an update. A combination of being busy and being sick is to blame. My allergies have gotten a little out of control which has been irritating. I have been taking medicine, but trying to make what I have last. However, we have been a little busy... I won't bore with all the details, but will go over some highlights!

We ate at an AMAZING italian place called Cicala Trattoria. This place had seriously, the best food I have ever had! It was also amazing to look at the wall of celebrities and see Johnny Depp, Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins and many, many others. We went with some friends to celebrate one of the girls going back to the states. Very good food, and good times.

We have also been to Dresden, Germany in the last week. It was my first time riding a train! I enjoyed the train ride- traveling through the country side and getting to sit back or get up and walk around, and the trip wasn't too long at all. Dresden itself isn't an overwhelming city. There were a few interesting things to see but the city has been destroyed a few times. One church had caught on fire five times! However the whole city was bombed in 1945 and that turned in to a large fire basically burning down the entire city. One building looked quite historical, however had actually been rebuilt and finished only a few years ago. There were a few things quite amazing in Dresden, one being paintings by Raphael! We actually saw multiple pieces but the highlight of my trip was seeing the Sixtine Madonna. Basically there was a small rope between me and the painting. Seeing a famous piece of art that close, close enough to see the brush strokes and everything was quite impressive.



A trip to the zoo has also happened since the last update. The zoo was quite an adventure. The Prague Zoo flooded a few years ago and they were on the verge of losing a lot of animals. They basically had to do an emergency evacuation, lost a few (mostly birds) but saved the majority of the animals. This also caused them to do a big renovation, therefore the zoo is really nice and really new. The zoo is very child friendly and had a lot of play areas, and a lot of kids. There were a lot of areas for kids to play in the water too; however it seemed a little awkward for Bryan and me to see all the kids playing in the water naked. Some were like one or two years old... and some... were a lot older. It was also fun to watch all the kids peeing in the plant areas- we have actually seen more kids then necessary peeing along the sidewalk, or in a tree planter, or whatever was convient since we have been here but apparently according to the missionaries it's a common way of life here.



Work has been going well. There have been a few setbacks such as equipment Bryan needs not being here, and then when we ordered it there were complications as well... things like that. I have been helping in the office doing photo work, and other general organization. And we've been helping out with children's programs and plays and things along those lines. Everything seems to be falling into place. We're getting used to shopping, traveling, and daily life in a foreign country. It is starting to seem more like a lifestyle, and less like a vacation. Bryan will be leaving next Sunday to go to Macedonia for the entire week. This is going to be challenging for me to be home alone all week, and probably a little adjustment for Bryan to be gone as well. We have spent pretty much the entire time here together!

Today however, I talked to a guy today about helping out at an English Camp. Basically it's for 18-24 year old Czech speakers to come and learn English with Christian English speakers. It's basically your classic church camp... for older people... and also incorporating English speaking classes... which is more so everyone sitting around in small groups talking about whatever the students want to talk about. It seems like a really awesome opportunity. It would be a week up in the mountains, and then after the week is over there is a few days back in Prague doing tours of the city, hanging out, etc to kinda wrap it all up. I'm really excited about it and am in the process of seeing if I can go because of work, and if we can afford it. I do think this will be something that I will do on my own without Bryan going, but I am completely okay with that. It seems to be an experience I can't pass up, so hopefully everything will fall into place for me to be able to go.

All in all things are going well. Adjustments are hard to make sometimes, but we did have our first friends over to the apartment so I guess we are adjusting. All the hectic traveling and graduating and everything else was going on about a month ago. Hard to believe we've been gone that long already. Just keep us in your prayers- the allergy issue may be because of mold... but hopefully not! And also just for us to find more of a place to belong and get involved, and for what to do and where we need to be when we get home! Although we've only been here a few weeks, we've already started to think about the plans for when we get home, which is necessary. We do appreciate hearing from everyone though! Thanks for keeping in touch, it's a great thing for us to hear from friends and family at home!



-Brittany