ESL Classes & Stephan's Visit

On Thursday, Nov. 21, we went to Nicole Limmer's ESL classes for parents at Riverside School. Her students were from a wide variety of countries, including: Poland, Russia, Italy, Japan, Hungary, and Czech Republic. We had fun conversing in English with them. They seemed fascinated by our life in Alaska.

After English classes, we connected with Brent's cousin, Stephan, from the Netherlands. We were honored that he took a 14-hour train ride from the Netherlands to Prague just so he could connect with us for a few days! We met in Wenceslas Square and wandered around the city. We worked up quite an appetite so we took him to one of our favorite places, Modry Zub, a Thai noodle bar. Brent and I will readily admit that we both have an addiction to spicy foods. If we go too long with out them, we experience withdrawal symptoms. The Czech Republic is a wonderful country, but the national cuisine lacks heat. Fortunately, there are many international restaurants with spicy cuisine. In need of some endorphins, we ordered a dish and requested that the chef make it "extra spicy." When they brought out the meals Brent asked if ours was extra spicy. The waitress said yes, then sat our shared plate in front of us. When we had eaten most of our meal, we noticed that our dish didn't contain cashews and it really wasn't that spicy. Looking across the table, we noticed that Stephan's dish had cashews, that he was wiping his forehead often, and that he seemed particularly emotional. It was at this point that we realized our meals had been switched! Stephan was a good sport about it. We laughed about this for the remainder of our time together :).

We walked around Prague and rode the trams. Stephan appreciated walking across the St. Charles Bridge and seeing the varied architecture. I was amused at Brent's impromptu puppet show at a gift shop.

Brent and I rounded out the evening at McCafe, with dessert and cocoa.