what dreams are made of

Last night I had the strangest dream. Many crazy things happened in my dream, but the most significant moment was when I was walking through a kind of market display of stores here in Policka and the Czechs had made new flavors of Dr. Pepper (I’m not intending to make this site only about my obsession with Dr. Pepper, but it’s turning out to be that way). Like we have Cherry Vanilla and Berry in the US, they had made Beer and Wine flavored Dr. Pepper. I was asking the sales clerk if the Dr. Pepper was still nonalcoholic just before I woke up, but before that point this new enigma made me take in my surroundings. I realized that the store offering it was a Burger King and the line of market stands were all chains moved into Policka(the market stands were more like open stores than the small shops we have in real life). I think this comes from my deep dark concern for our downtown, because TESCO came to the outskirts. TESCO is the Walmart of CZ, but a bit trendier like a Target. Maybe this is all I need to say for those of us who grew up in small cities like Ponca, where the wonderful small downtown shops died when the Walmart Superstore came to town. Our TESCO is mainly a supermarket plus, but it has a bakery, a paper section, and a parking lot. If you’ve been to any small European city, maybe you understand about the difficulty in parking downtown, or the importance of the bakery and the paper store. I love my paper store and the many bakeries. I would be sad to see them go. Anna reassures me that they will still be here while I’m living here, but I still see the sadness along with the greatness of the new “advantages” of a greater economy that are coming to even the small cities in this country. Well, I guess I shouldn’t over think this too much, a better variety of possibilities is one of the treasures of a free country as opposed to years in communism with only a few choices in life. Hmm…but I guess the real question in all of this should have been, so would a beer flavored Dr. Pepper really contain alcohol?

Dr Pepper in Policka

It’s a fact. I found 2 Liter bottles of Dr. Pepper in my favorite grocery store, which is less than half a mile from my new flat. I took a picture of the bottle next to a bottle of my favorite Policka beer, just to prove that I really have it here. I’m really enjoying myself here in Policka for the second time. Most of the reason I decided to return was that we had done so much hard work starting this program, I hated to see it end after one year when there was an option of continuing. I felt like last year was this huge uphill journey, and it seemed ridiculous to just fly home when we reached the top instead of continuing over the downhill slope. I’ve been relieved to discover that so far it has felt downhill, for the most part. I can speak Czech more easily, I have many friends, and I have many resources for ideas for the classes. Last year my office was in my bedroom. This year I have two different spaces for living and working and both spaces give me space while keeping me connected to other people. So, a little more detail…
My new flat is the third floor of a house just off the square of Policka, the couple that owns the house have two daughters that both have families with children who come to the English camp. One daughter’s family lives on the first floor, the couple lives on the second floor, and the other daughter’s family lived on the third floor. And this second daughter and her family are living in London, because she and her husband have jobs there. So, I’m living in the main room of their flat(with kitchen, living space, and bedroom much bigger than the average studio apartment), plus the bathroom and toilet down the hall. I have one very large cabinet for my clothes and a walk in pantry for food and other things. I think I finally feel like I have good ways to organize things in my apartment. I’d post pictures, but I don’t feel like it’s appropriate since it’s not really my flat.
This week I’ve been looking at desks and chairs for my “office” which will be in a corner of the Presbyterna, the room they use for session meetings, bible studies, and other serious things as opposed to the upstairs Sunday school room where we have all sorts of silliness and socializing. We’re remodeling the room right now, so we have new floors and this amazingly awesome new case built into the wall. This room used to look so old and not so nice, if I only had a picture of what the old mix match of book cases and cabinets looked like before, you would understand how proud we are of this beautiful bookcase with very sturdy locks for important things. Maybe there is a picture, but I wouldn’t post it on the internet. I am happy to post a picture of the new case as well as a picture of my temporary desk. I’m happy to have my two places to separate my home from my work.