Halloween and Work trip

Despite my best efforts to come up with interesting costume ideas, the boys just wanted to be batman and superman.  They didn't even want anything home-made (I guess my kermit pants really traumatized charlie last year) - just plain superhero costumes from the store.  Although disappointed, I was still sad to miss out on my favorite holiday.  Luckily we did get dressed up to go trick-or-treating at the zoo before my work trip.  It was fun, but a bit strange.  Charlie wanted to hit every possible stand to collect goodies, but Diego was mainly just interested in the stand giving out cheddar cheese and the merry-go-round.

Ry's birthday included live animals AND a fire truck!!

Carlos said they loved Halloween. East Capitol didn't disappoint and then they came home to give out candy.  Charlie said he liked giving out candy even more than trick-or-treating.   I guess they stayed up until 9:45pm giving out candy to whoever was random enough to come over here - usually teenagers with little to no costume.

The week seemed to be pretty long for Carlos, Sandra and my mom - who came in to help out.  The first night Sofia had a fever and didn't sleep much, Diego woke up with nightmares and Charlie wet the bed.   Monday I got a call from Diego's teacher saying that he had a major accident during naptime.....It seemed to only get marginally better from there.  On my end the trip was okay, but the way back felt like an eternity...when I got off the plane in Dulles I almost cried when I had to wait in that crappy tram and then I really almost cried when the passport line was longer than anyone had ever seen (took 1.5 hrs to get through) and then I REALLY almost lost it when some girl puked in the passport line so we waited while vomit fumes filled the air and then I literally starting to lose it when the customs line wrapped around various baggage claim areas.  I hate Dulles airport.

Actually the whole trip felt really long.  I had to leave on Sunday evening and didn't get back until Friday night.  I got to walk around Prague on Monday afternoon and see a friend I haven't seen in almost 20 years!  Crazy.  Despite the fact that the year and two summers I spent in the Czech Republic were formative experiences, I wasn't really nostalgic being there.  When I was in the Czech Republic 5 years after the velvet revolution, the Charles Bridge was lined with Czech teenagers strumming Beatles songs and desperately trying to conjure up the 1960s; the expats were all trying to "find" themselves by writing their first novel.  Nowadays, the hippies are gone; the Bridge is lined with tourist trap souvenir stands and the sea of tourists overwhelms any sign of a probably huge expat community.  oh well.  Tuesday-Thursday was in Plzen at a meeting hosted at the brewery where Pilsner Urquell is made.  The brewery complex is pretty cool - especially the fact that there are 9 kilometers of hand-dug tunnels which were used to keep the beer cool!  We were treated to dinner in a private dining space in the tunnels.  The fact that only a large pig was served was the least of my concerns - I'm so claustrophobic that spending 2+ hours in a deep underground cavern was almost more than I could handle.  Even the huge copper containers filled with beer couldn't help.  The highlight of the trip for me was spending my last evening back in Prague with one of my host sisters from when I was an exchange student in Olomouc.  I went to her wedding 8 years ago, but haven't seen her since.  It was so nice to meet her kids, spend time with her and skype with her parents!    However, spending time with Sylva and her family made me really happy.  She has a daughter, Amalka, the same age as Charlie and I hope that they will become friends and that she will come spend time with us here.

the beer tunnels

ahhh! beer and czech food!

my host sister and her two kids!