N's first play

Tonight we had a farewell dinner for our new friends Michele, Brian, Isabel and Will. They were N's 'pottery-made' friends,here for 4 month. N wrote a play that all the kids performed, some of their antics and costumes caused huge bouts of audience laughter. While the kids were organising themselves the adults polished off a few bottles of wine with 'Grilled Norweigen Smoked Salmon' and 'Bocconcini, Proscuitto & English Spinach Lasagne'. Brian then showed us his interpretation of how to make Becherovka drinkable - Becherovka, fresh lime and tonic water. I'm still not convinced!

-4 and snow all day.....all day!

A Little snow and swans

Christmas was blue skies in Prague. Because it is dark til about 8, N did not rise early for Xmas(one advantage to a northern hemisphere christmas!), my brother actually got us up earlier than N(we thought it was the middle of the night-although it was 7:30). The Portmans' had an iPod christmas, each receiving one and keeping M busy all day adding our fav CD's onto them (incl.my learning Czech one).
Boxing Day it snowed all day!
Today N & I feed the swans on the Vltava.

New York Trip is Over !

It's all over red rover !

Coming home.........

Some weekend highlights

Keep scrolling !

• Disiac bar - drinking 'bondage' cocktails - mega chocolate & white liquor
  (http://www.disiacnyc.net/)
• Arribarriba (Mexican) - great food with Janet & Vic - margaretas
  (http://www.arribarriba.com/)
• Art Supplies for J - Lee's Art Shop
  (http://www.leesartshop.com/)
• B&H Photo Video shop - the biggest camera shop I've ever been in. 200 staff on the floor to help you
  (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/)

Off to JFK now...............M

Blue sky and playing in the park

After the constant snow of yesterday it was a pleasant surprise to wake up to blue skies thismorning. Perfect...blue sky and heaps of snow to play with for the beginning of school holidays...who could have asked for more..certainly not N. We spent 2 hours after lunch at our local park/playground(fenced off from dog poo), mainly chucking snowballs at each other, mastering bigger and better snowballs the longer we were there.

Snow....it's so pretty...she's out there again!

Our back view...



Our front view...

Snowball Fun No.1

It has been snowing all day. Current conditions, visibility 50 metres..big snowflakes, 2 inches of snow in the last hour on veranda.Following pictures from an hour ago...
Snow ball preparation...
Then chuck at mum....

Eating snowflakes is great fun....

2005 Report Cards

We've survived our first year in Prague. Long & rewarding year for everyone I think. Really enjoyed visiting friends & family - keep coming :-) You never know, next year maybe the last. Report cards have come in........

J
- A+ for Czech
- Most Valuable Player (MVP) in tennis
- Excellence in volunteer work @ school library
- Big Kiss Award for looking after the kids (M & N)

N
- Lots of A's for science, reading & maths
- Excellent at drama & music
- Can do better at writing - can you remember these comments on your reports :-)
- 100% Attendance
- MVP in netball

M
- EE (Exceeds Expectations) - once in a lifetime rating whilst working for the Firm
- Excellence in Armchair activities - eating & drinking
- Coffee Bean Award for IT Support

Hope you all had a great year.

M

Not a Nerd?

J

Apassionata - Ovations

Last night we went to the horse show "Apassionata" at the Sazka Arena in Prague, home of their champion ice hockey team - HC Slavia. It was a fabulous show incorporating horses of the world - they depicted spanish dancing, cowboys racing down the arena then sliding and skidding their back legs to a halt, good and evil(with fire), techno with a black stallion rearing on its back legs being seen only by the fluorscent striping on its body, Russian gymnastic vaulting over the horse and so much more...here are some of the photos that worked.

Christmas Party

The Christmas Party was held a short walk from the Prague office, in Na Prikope(off Wenceslas Square). This first shot is of the Christmas tree and markets at the end of Wenceslas Square.
The party was held at a Brazilian restaurant...starters was a selection of cocktails and Japanese, main was a non-stop bombardment of cooked meats delivered to the table(see picture). One of the waiters who didn't speak English resorted to animal impersonations - "baa,baa" to let us know what sort of meat he had.

Entertainment ranged from Brazillian drums, fire dancers, henna body painting, hair extensions to salsa dancing and a live band.

N's concert at the Rudolfinum

Last Thursday was the schools 10th Anniversary Christmas Concert at the Rudolfinum on the banks of the Vltava, just up from Charles Bridge. N sang a Barvarian song-Es wird scho glei dumper-with her German class; treble recorder solo- We wish you a Merry Christmas; class performance-Go tell it on the mountain; school choir-'Sleep', 'Once in Royal David City' and 'Hark!the Herald Angel Sing'.
All went really well.

New York, New York.......

Off to New York on Sunday for 1 week. Catching up with people on what 2006 will bring. Mapping out projects & process improvements for the Prague crew. Will be good to catchup with the Aussies in NYC and do some famous New York Xmas shopping. Who would have thought that would have been a possibility 5 years ago. Portmans in Prague, what's next on the horizon. T's surfing (see Not Prague blog) story is making me jealous though.

J&M are attending the Prague office Xmas bash tonight. Some more goss for you tomorrow, I'm sure.

M

St Mikulas, the Angel and the Devil

On Friday we celebrated the first of the Czech Christmas traditions for kids. "The evening before St. Nicholas Day, December 5, St. Nicholas strolls around the city, accompanied by an Angel and a Devil, visiting children and handing out presents. First, he asks the children whether they have been good and if not, they must promise they will be better next year. In Central Europe, there is no association of this St. Nicholas with the Western character..Santa Claus.... The St. Nicholas tradition is based on the legend of St. Nicholas, a bishop who lived in the 4th century in Asia Minor and was renowned for his religious life and charity. St. Nicholas gives presents in all Slavic countries. This tradition became very popular and the character of St. Nicholas, dressed in a long coat with a crosier in his hand, is now always accompanied by a devil and an angel, representing the antimony of good and evil" Prague Info Service.
St Mikulas asked Nikita to sing a song for her gift to show she was good - she sang Jingle bells. The adults celebrated with traditional warm red wine or warm honey wine and food.

The night before I went to the Prague Fringe Comedy Festival and saw Julie Morris' show. She is an Australian comedian living in London. She was very funny, excellent quick-moving stage show. I think you had to be Australian to catch some of the jokes, as often I felt like I was the only one laughing(and the English lady, that I went with, agreed). We had drinks after the show with Julie and she said she could tell the pockets in the audience that were Australian.