Just a few things while dinner cooks

I'm drinking herbal tea and waiting for the split pea soup to finish cooking, so I'm grabbing a few minutes to post. I want to write something really long and descriptive, but maybe it's better to do brief posts more frequently, anyway.

The walls of our apartments are hung with many pictures of Prague and the Czech countryside -- drawings, paintings, etc. I think they're lovely, and I hope to spend a little time looking at all of them more closely. Below are two pictures in the kitchen, and I love the plants on either side, especially the vine. And yes, they are real. There are a lot of plants in the apartment, some of them quite large, all of them very healthy, and I hope I'm not supposed to take care of them. I'm going to ask. I'm not great at taking care of plants.

From Europe 2013

Next is the view from our entryway (and also the kitchen, but only from one side of the kitchen): The Břevnov Monastery, founded in 993 AD. Jon and a few kids went to the church, St. Margaret's Basilica, today and were able to peer in. They say it's beautiful and I can't wait to see it. It seems like the churches here are not open all the time like churches I have visited in the U.S., but my experience is not very extensive yet.

From Europe 2013

And here are the youngest three playing cards in their bedroom, which is also serving as our classroom for Czech lessons. (We had our first one today!) You can see a few plants and a picture.

From Europe 2013

Everything reminds me of East Germany, where I served my mission in 1992 and 1993. There's a lot that's similar -- the herbal tea, the bedding (lovely feather comforters and pillows), the doors between every room that are supposed to remain shut. This time around, I understand why the doors are supposed to be shut, since the rooms stay much warmer with the doors shut than when they're left open. I never understood or believed that as a missionary, but it turns out to be true!