Monday--Pool and Pedicure

On Monday morning I wandered around the village some more.  Here is a rather shaky video of the home for abandoned children, a lovely garden shop that my Czech mom frequents, and the elementary school.

  

When the boys got home from school they went swimming.  There is a semi-indoor pool in the backyard.  I  have gone swimming a few times in the morning.  The pool is not very big so swimming laps is hard, but it is an "endless" pool.  You push a button and the water starts shooting at you.  (It sounds more violent than it is.)  It is a water treadmill.  I have always wanted to try one of those, and now it is right in the backyard!

Anyway, the boys don't use it to swim for exercise.  They like to cling to the edge of the pool right where the stream of water starts and then let go and shriek as the water pushes them away.  They also like to position themselves so the water pulls their swimming trunks off.  Boys.  

Here they are in the pool.

After dinner one of Eva's friends came over to give us pedicures.  She is on maternity leave from a nail salon and is making house calls on the side.  It was certainly different to have a pedicure at home!  She didn't speak any English but she was extremely nice and my feet look great!  The boys had never seen a pedicure so they pulled up chairs next to me and watched with their mouths open.  

The Czech Republic gives mothers lots of paid maternity leave.  They get one or two years of full or almost full salary and then a third year of slightly decreased pay.  And their employer has to guarantee a job for them when they return.  I asked Eva about multiple children, and she said that you get the same benefits for each child.  So, if a woman spaced it right, she could have one child every three years and get nine years of salary with a job waiting for her.  I think that is what Eva said.  

I have now overseen bath time for all three boys and nap time for the baby.  I have fed the baby his various meals and changed lots of diapers without gagging (aren't you proud of me, Mom?).  And I have put all three boys to bed.  I feel much more useful.

Now that I am more comfortable with the home routine I am looking for life outside the house and the village.  Unfortunately there is really not much here for me in Nove Straseci.  I think you could call it a bedroom community.  As far as I can tell most people commute to Prague or bigger towns for work.  The gym has a few treadmills and weights, but no fitness classes, and there is no movie theater or exciting shopping.  They do have a nice soccer complex and clay tennis courts.  Eva likes to play tennis so hopefully we can play together.  I have never played on clay, but it looks like fun!

There is lots to do in Prague but it is about an hour's journey--35 minutes on a bus to the closest metro stop and then about 30 minutes to the city center.   I am looking into Czech language classes or maybe Italian.  I know Czech makes more sense while I am here but I enjoyed speaking Italian.  I am also looking into yoga studios in Prague.  There are three or four that teach classes in English.  I wouldn't mind taking in Czech (I took fitness classes in Italian in Venice and it was a nice way to learn the language!) but I would love to meet some English speaking people.   I am also going to stake out the English bookstores and perhaps the study abroad offices...I feel a tad isolated here and I would like to meet some people close to my own age who speak English.  I have a few contacts here but if anyone knows anyone...

Sometimes this whole thing seems quite silly for me to have done.  I mean, a shy introvert homebody like me moving to a tiny town across the ocean where I don't speak the language and know no one?  But it will get better.  I am having small waves of homesickness pass over me, but I have only been here for two weeks.

I am starting to plan little weekend trips.  As this is their summer vacation, too, I will not have many weekends free.  They have trips planned for almost every weekend this summer.  But that will be a nice way to travel around the Czech Republic.  

Thanks for reading, and thanks for your comments!  I love hearing from you!