Under Construction

Warning! Men at Work

well, actually there is only one man at work (me).  

i'm currently:

messing around with my blog/thinking of moving to a different platform/thinking of starting a photo only blog/wondering what to do next/wanting to podcast/etc/atd

please be patient.

America vs. Czech, part two

i'm now back in czech.

its cold.

snow lines the streets.

in honor of both my native land and my new home, i will list my second installment of "america vs. czech"...in this edition i will focus on what habits i will have to unlearn and things to get used to again...

_ no more driving and talking on my cell phone

_ no more drinking a beer and then driving (czech has a no tolerance policy...no .08 limit, .0001 is a DUI

_ when i hear english in the background i can be surprised again

_ no more wearing my shoes inside of houses

_ back to normal sized everything...meals, cars, coffee*

_ back to communion w. real wine! (i just realized the moral dilemma i have when driving to church...is it illegal to drive home after having had communion?)

_ people will stop at crosswalks for me again...in czech, you are required to stop at a crosswalk for pedestrians, not so in america, so there were multiple times in which my life hung by a thread after assuming czech laws while crossing the street in america

_ back to food with cumin...this has to be the worst spice ever invented and czechs use it in everything! even if it is not intended to be in things it still ends up in it.  there are two regular occurrences here that are quite disappointing. 

one: "hidden cumin".  this occurs most often in one of my favorite lunch treats.  it is a roll with sauce, ham, and melted cheese. mmmm, tasty! but, sometimes the baker does the unthinkable: hiding cumin under the melted cheese.  imagine my shock as i take that first bite into tasty goodness and then, 

what? 

what is that terrible taste destroying my tastebuds? 

oh, no, it can't be.  

it is.

[right fist thrust high in the air]

blast you, cumin, blast you!

two: "unintentional cumin".  since cumin is found on many different savoury baked goods, it can be found everywhere in a bakery.  the problem with this is that the little cumin seed hates staying attached to its home.  you see, cumin is a tyrant.  cumin loves to come in (pun, unintentional) and destroy.  it is a home wrecker.   it is a thief of goodness, robbing from delicious.  so, cumin will often detach itself from its home and find its way into pastries! this is the "unintentional cumin".  imagine my surprise when biting into a tasty blueberry danish and again, that nefarious (yeah, i used a thesaurus for that one) spice has made its way into my mouth.  oh, the despair.  oh, wretched cumin, how i hate you!

*side note_i put on [at least] 10 pounds while in america.  i think it was due to many factors not normally experienced in czech:

1. eating out at every meal

2. in czech it is customary to eat all the food on your plate, which normally isn't an issue, but that compulsion never left when i was in america, so while eating enormous meals i just kept eating and eating and eating...

3. [at least] one starbucks a day...often more

America vs. Czech

I've been in the States for one week.

Here are the most significant things I've noticed/discovered being back:

_right turns on red are great...if you don't do it people will honk
_laundry is much quicker with a dryer!
_sports are much more fun to watch on TV rather than tracking the scores on the internet
_do not, i repeat, do not remove anything from the scales when going through the self checkout at the grocery store
_do not, i repeat, do not use the self check out by yourself if you've never done it before...thanks Jenni and Christian!
_fruits and vegitables are huge, perfect, and shiny here...i never noticed the difference when i moved to czech...i think its because i never bought fruit and vegitables before i moved there
_i will come back to czech 10-15 pounds heavier
_bowling is much easier for me in America...good lanes and pins without strings led to two games over 200...in czech i never crack 100
_driving an automatic transmission is odd...what should I do with my left foot?

When I am in czech I eat two types of food...czech or italian. Here is what I've eaten since I've been here:

_Cajun
_Chinese
_Mexican
_American
_Seafood
_Pizza
_Italian
_Breakfast Restaurant...nothing like it in Cesky Tesin
_BBQ

I'm sure this is just the beginning of what I'll notice while I'm here...

wandering

a long time ago

in a state far, far away

bobby b gave me a book that i put on my shelf

then that book was put in a box and taken to czech

then it sat on my shelf again

finally i read it

wow.

________________



the book is called A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins.

it was inspiring. touching. challenging. revealing.

inspiring - to travel more
touching - by the relationship between a man and his dog (really impressive, since i don't like animals that much)
challenging - to spend more time with people, not to speed through life
revealing - the good and bad sides of america

as i read page 14 and peter described the state of the us at the time (early 70s), i thought: this isn't much differnt than the state of the us right now

_every time i watched tv or read a newspaper (or internet), it seemed like the end of the world
_we Americans were blowing up anything and everyone for no clear reason in Vietnam (Iraq)
_southern rednecks were in a quiet war to wipe blacks off the face of the earth (i read this during the Don Imus flap)
_what upset me most of all were the booming industrial powers that were destroying our only environment (see inconvenient truth)
_there seemed to be no hope or no help for the united states of america, once the greatest country in the world and my homeland

not much has changed in 35 years.


_________________


i was also inspired by what peter termed "mileage craziness". this the state we get in when the destination becomes more important than the journey there. in his words, "obsessively placing more importance on how many miles are traveled than on the real reason for traveling...my main purpose was to be where i was. most important, i wanted to find the real people out there, what they were made of, experience who they were, how they lived, and how they worked for a living."

i'd love to say that i don't suffer from "milegage craziness", but i do. big time. in almost all i do, getting it done is more important than the process...even now...i just want to finish this blog post...i don't want to slow down and enjoy the process of writing [creating].

i do it with traveling too...get there...wherever there is...as quick as possible...don't stop...don't take pictures...don't leave the main path...don't adventure...just get there

since reading this book i've made a couple of commitments to myself:

_ pick up hitchhikers
_ stop more for pictures

hitchhikers because they are stories (hopefully i'll be able to understand them!)
pictures because they tell stories
both because they will slow me down


________________


a couple of weeks ago my friend aubrey was here. one of the things that was great is that while travelling to prague we

took our time



before we walked around the town we played with a little kid



and while we traveled around prague we

went

where
we

wanted
_art galleries
_cafes
_we took pictures







i think i'm learning to slow down...

i spoke in church on sunday

you may not think that speaking in church is a big deal, especially for me, since i talk all the time, but it is a big deal when it is in czech!

last monday, during my prayer and fasting day concerning my future (see previous post), one of the things i felt like God was calling me to was getting more involved in my local church.

every week at church the mic is open for the congregation to share whatever God is doing in their lives...often times they turn into preachamonies*.

well, this past sunday, as i sat in the pew worshipping, i felt compelled to share my decision to stay with the church...the only problem is that i also felt compelled to share it in czech.

[let's take a brief moment to talk about the czech language barriar. i can hear many of you saying to yourselves, "Come on, Nate, you've lived in Czech for almost two years, you should totally be fluent by now." well, czech is freakin' hard, so back off!! seriously, czech is hard. people who have lived here for twelve-years are still studying! yeah, its that hard.]

so anyways, i was super nervous to share in czech, but i knew i had to.

the worship band is made up of some students from the youth ministry and is lead by a friend of mine, so all of them know me...they also know my czech skill. so, when i stood up and began walking up to the pulpit, i could read the looks on their faces:

"oh, my gosh! what is he thinking?"
"he isn't going to ask me to translate is he?"
"is nate getting up to use the bathroom?"

when i got to the podium and began speaking the looks of the people in the congregation were classic. they looked like they were watching the children's program on Easter. They had that leaned forward/what cute thing is he going to say/awwwww, isn't he cute look on their faces.

i then stummbled through a testimony (i'm sure it wasn't long enough to be a preachamoney) in my broken czech. making statements that probably sounded like this:

"i live here two years"
"God lead me here"
"i decide stay"
"hard it is because the family and lots friends live there"

i finished.

they clapped. i'm pretty sure it was because i spoke in czech, not because i'm staying.

so, that was it. i spoke in church on sunday.

*def: a testimony which is longer (sometimes much longer) than it should be. it often includes a passage of scripture, a three-point outline, and multiple illustrations. it never extends long enough to ever be called a sermon.

the atlantic was born today and i'll tell you how

for nearly two years i've lived in the czech. my official two-year term is nearing an end.

inevitably, i am asked the question by family and friends (on both sides of water), "so, are you staying here [coming back]"?

i've put the answer off for a long time.

partly to pray about it, but mostly because i was scared.

scared to commit [go back].
scared to hurt my family [disappoint people here].
scared of drudging through the cultural challenges [readjusting back to us culture].
scared of the ???????????.

but, finally, i've made my decision.

__________

it started in autumn. things had been tough. there were cultural struggles, ministry challenges, the language barrier, loneliness, etc. i was praying one morning about what GOD wanted me to do and the SPIRIT clearly spoke,


"I don't want you to leave czech until I call you somewhere else."


i didn't like that answer. life was hard. it would be easier/better/more fun/insert good feeling here ________ if i went back to the states. i begrudgingly accepted this from GOD, but hoped HE would change HIS mind.

ff >>

it was a sunny january day in az and bobby b and i were kicking it for our regular half-day comic book run/fashion square/good food/hang out and somewhere between spider-man and baseball the conversation turned to ministry. bobby was sharing some thoughts on some recent changes he'd made in ministry location and said, "one thing that has always stuck out to me was something Oswald Chambers wrote. he said,


'never leave the place GOD called you last until HE calls you to somewhere else.'"

GOD didn't change HIS mind. this was confirmation.

i still waited to make my decision though.

ff>>

monday.

czechs celebrate easter monday. it is really a bizarre celebration with some interesting traditions. but, regardless, it is a day off.

i spent my day with the LORD.

i decided that monday was my decision day. i took the day, went to a lake (which was really a resevoir for drinking water with no way to get down to the lake to enjoy nature--i was not happy) spent an hour there, then went and hung out in a cafe for four hours.

i read.

i prayed.

i asked GOD for guidance/direction/what HE wanted from me for the next five years.

HE answered.

it was powerful.

i expected HIM to show me some great vision for the future--some beautifully laid out ministry plan.

what i got was a load of specific verses of !who! GOD was calling me to !be!

maybe some day i'll share those, but i've delayed telling my decision for

l
o
n
g

e
n
o
u
g
h

GOD is calling me to stay.

even as i write this i think of the countless friends and family back in the states that i miss and the sound of disappointment that i've heard in my family's voices this week as i've told them of my decision.

it grieves my heart.

but,

i know that GOD is in this.

i know that HE is providing new friends and family for me here. never to replace those in the states, but to fill up what i am missing.

i know that HE is preparing works for me to do that are specificly tailored to my giftedness and passion.

i know that HE is changing me in ways that I could never be changed back in the states.

i know that HE is calling me to this.

i can step into that with confidence.

London, part three: mind the gap between America and Britain

There is a woman who comes over the PA while waiting for public transportation in London. She says, "Mind the gap between the train and the platform." While there isn't a huge gap, I kinda wish I would've had that woman tell me about the gap between america and the uk before I went.

Here is a pictoral representation of some things I experienced:



We have been trained to look left, THEN right when crossing the street. It is natural. It is the way the rest of the non-formarly Bristish occupied countries in the world work. The huge signs on the street helped, but it is almost impossible to not look left also. I tried. I would try only looking right when crossing a one-way street and it was like there was a gigantic magnet hovering over my left shoulder and a equally huge piece of metal attached to my forehead. My head was compelled to look left even though the traffic was only coming from the right. Every time I crossed the street and didn't look left also, I felt as if I was going to get drilled by a car.



As we travelled around London on the Tube we found that the Brits are ultra-creative in the naming of their stops. We were compelled to go to this one. I mean, come on, who doesn't long to see elephants? We sure did. And when we thought that we could throw in one free castle as well...we were sold. So we travelled all the way to the end of the Brown line to this stop.

The stop should be called "Light Balls and Fruit Stands, because this is all we found:





I love sports...I have played or watched sports my whole life and feel like I have an excellent knowledge of all that is going on out there. But the UK has some crazy sports. Cricket and Rugby being two of them. When I saw this sign I thought, "Is there cheating going on there, because if there is, I have no idea what it is. Can Red Guy not put the ball on the ground? Can Blue Guy not grab his mate's (yeah, British English) shorts. I know grabbing your friends shorts is inappropriate, but is it cheating? Really, who is cheating here? I have no idea!



Finally, the bathrooms. Come on...girl in a dress, boy in pants...it should be easy...oh, wait, I make that mistake here...uh...never mind.

America - its different here

So, I've been in the States for almost five days now. It is different than Czech. Here are some interesting facts from the first week.

- I can speak English here.

- I can say "hi" to random people on the street.

- I've eaten mexican food three straight days...and it is cooked by Mexicans!

- I don't have to take my shoes off when I go into someone's home.

- I don't have to eat every morsel of food from my plate.

- I drive an automatic transmission.

- I can turn right on red.

- I am transfixed by television. Even the commercials hold my gaze.

- When I go to a store I don't have to think of what I'm going to say before I go in...I can just walk in and say it.

- Oregon is beautiful.

- Starbucks is everywhere...and oh so delightful.

Lollipop

n. a flat, rounded candy on the end of a stick

v. the means by which a Czech Police officer pulls someone over in the Czech Republic (termed by me as "lollipopping")

Sometimes cops in the Czech just pull you over randomly. The way they do it is by sticking this lollipop-looking-thingy out and pointing to the side of the road.















They really don't need a reason to pull you over. They just do it. Then they look to see if there is something you are doing wrong and give you a ticket. It is oh so Communistic.



I've been lollipopped twice in my life. The first was in the summer of 2001 in Poland. The second was this Spring. I'm thankful that I have managed to avoid the lollipop so far this summer (knock on wood). Everytime I drive passed a cop this summer I just begged, "Don't lollipop me, don't lollipop me..."

This is not a picture of me being lolipopped:

Polish Worship

The town I live in is right on the Czech-Polish border. Therefore, most of the people in my town can speak Polish as well as Czech. This is especially true of the people in my church. Most of the sermons are in Czech, but occasionally the sermons will be in Polish. There is also this unusual dialect in our town called Ponasimu (sp?). It is a mix between Czech and Polish and sometimes when someone shares their testimony in church they speak Ponasimu. Learning Czech is hard enough, but with all these other languages floating around, it is brutal.

This leads me to my point. Every week, at least half of our worship is in Polish. In fact, even our Hymnal is in Polish. It is really fuuny, because I have not studied Polish at all, but yet, I learn it every Sunday at church. It is close enough to Czech, where I can recognize some words, but it is different enough to where I definitely struggle when I try to sing.

To me, Polish sounds like this, "Shush wosh blush slush wosh." Lots of shushes and wushes...

Sometimes when I am attempting to sing in Polish, I think to myself, "Self, what if everyone just stopped singing and I was left singing by myself. All they would hear would be a whole bunch of non-sense that sounds like "sush mush bush Bog (the word for God) wush blush shush."

Oh, the cross-cultural life.

Camel, Ostrich, and Crocodile

I am reading through the Bible in a year and this morning I was reading Leviticus 11 (I'm a little behind!) and I was surprised by what I read.

Two weeks ago I was in Kenya visiting Marisa. One night we went to a restaurant called Carnivore. It is the epitome of tourist dining. In a country of all blacks, 95% of the restaurant was white. Everyone who I know that has been to Kenya has been to this restaurant. It really is a novelty. They serve all sorts of exotic meats including, camel, ostrich, crocodile, etc. I love to try new things, so I never hesitated to partake in this exquisite cuisine. Camel was my favorite, but ostrich was a close second. Crocodile wasn't as fishy as you might thing and was also quite good.

Then this morning I came across these verses:

Lev 11:4 - "Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these, among those which chew the cud, or among those which divide the hoof; the camel, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you."

Lev 11:13,16 - "These, moreover, you shall detest among the birds; they are abhorrent, not to be eaten: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard...and the ostrich and the owl and the sea gull and the hawk in its kind."

Lev 11:29-30 - "Now these are to you the unclean things among the swarming things which swarm on the earth: the mole, and the mouse, and the great lizard in its kinds, and the gecko, and the crocodile, and the lizard, and the sand reptile, and the chameleon."

I couldn't believe it! All three of the exotic animals that I had eaten were included in the list of unclean animals. For a brief moment I felt conviction. But then I began to rejoice because,

"...and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals (camels, maybe) and crawling creatures of the earth (crocodiles, maybe) and birds of the air (not ostriches, cause they don't fly, but...). A voice came to him, 'Get up, Peter, kill and eat!' But Peter said, 'By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.' Again a voice came to him a second time, 'What God has cleaned, no longer consider unholy.'"

Thank you, God, that you have made these animals clean and that we are no longer bound to your Law!

Border Crossing

Since I don't have a visa yet to live here I have to leave the country every three months in order to be considered a visitor. I will start the visa process in September, but my first three months came up the other day, so I had to cross the border. Now, this isn't a big deal considering in live in Česky Těšín, which is the Czech side of a border town on the Czech-Polish border, but getting to the border wasn't my problem...

Mel drove me to the border and told me to just walk across through one building, cross the street, and then come back on the other side and that will be enough. I was a little nervous, because I don't know what they are going to think when they see me walk across the border and then come right back. I'm thinking that this could hurt my visa chances if I get caught. So I go through the building and the guy asks me where I'm going (I've told this story to multiple people who live in Česky Těšín and they say they have never been asked this question). So I tell him I'm just going into town. He says, "Today is a holiday and the stores are closed." I now start to get a little flustered, because I'm not prepared to answer questions. I stutter and say, "OK," he stamps my passport and then lets me through. Then the Polish guy looks at my passport, flips through it, stamps it and lets me go through. I proceed to the nearest door, because I want to get out of there as quick as possible, and the guys both yell out and point to a back door...more attention being drawn to me.

I should also note that I am wearing a brown sweatshirt that says OREGON on it, with a brown trucker hat cocked to the side, and brown Vans...my sweatshirt might as well have said FOREIGNER on it...

So I head out the back door walk down the side walk, cross the street and then hang another left and start heading toward the border again. I have no idea if the guys can see me in the other building but I felt like a flashing neon sign was attached to me (or maybe one of those neon cowboys with the moving arm pointing at me).

So I approach the other border guards (they are outside checking motorists) and hand him my passport hoping for a quick escape...no such luck. He looks at me and asks where I'm coming from (again I'm not expecting a question, especially that one, because I figured, hey, I'm walking from Poland, he should be able to figure out where I'm coming from). So, I stumble though the fact that I was in Czech, but then I came over to Poland and now I am going back. He tells me to speak slower. I tell him again. He looks at me oddly and says, "So you were in Poland for one minute?" Apparently the flashing neon cowboy pointed me out on my way over the first time. I say, "Yes." He says, "Hold on," and takes my passport to some building.

By now I'm a little freaked. I'm wondering if he's going to let me back in the Czech and even if he does if he is going to direct me to the bus station to send my butt back to the states...as I'm pondering how I'm going to tell my supporters that all of their money is being divided between the other missionaries in the Czech and wondering if Mountain Valley Church still looking for a youth pastor, a police car pulls up. Now my mind really starts going. I start thinking of the benefits of living back in the states and how God is sovereign and how He must want me back there. The cops pass without a word and the border guard comes out. He then asks me where in the Czech I am living. I technically can't be living anywhere, because I don't have a Visa, so I tell him I'm staying in this town. He then hands me my passport and sends me on my way.

I have no idea what all the hassle was about. I don't know if I'm now footnoted in the Passport computer as the "Sketchy American Border Crosser", but I am really hoping that this doesn't affect my visa application. Lucka, my friend who will be helping with the visa process, says it'll be no big deal, but we'll see. I also leave the country on Wednesday for vacation, so it'll be interesting to see if my vacation is a permanent one back to the states...

Moje Čeština je kostrabata...

"My Czech is bumpy..."

This is a phase that I learned from a Czech friend of mine four years ago when I was here. I only know it because he was trying to tell me that his English was bumpy. It has proved to be a useful phrase to know.

I know hardly any Czech. I can ask for a couple of things and I can understand the gist of some conversations, but I am barely scraping by this summer. Let me give you an example of what a Czech hears when they talk to me.


This is what I imagine a conversation with me is like. It is translated into English because I don't know Czech and you probably don't either.

Hotel Receptionist: "Hotel Babi Vrch. How can I help you?"

Nate: "Good day."

HR: "Good day. How can I help you?"

Nate: "Uh, five...evening...uh...uh...evening...18:30..."

HR: "Do you have a reservation?"

Nate (hearing word that sounds like reservation): "Yes, reservation."

HR: "Do you have one or do you need one."

Nate (hearing the word one): "No...one...uh...five...uh...five...evening...18:30..."

HR: "So you'll be here tonight at 18:30 and you need a reservation..."

Nate: "Yes...18:30...evening...reservation...Nathan Hughes...uh..."

HR: "What?"

Nate: "What?"

HR: "Do you need a reservation or do you have one?"

Nate: "uh...no...no understand..."

HR: "Do you need a reservation or do you have one?"

Nate (really confused now): "No understand...uh...goodbye..." (Nate hangs up)

Team (now in English): "So did you make sure that we have the reservation?"

Nate: "Sure did!"


This is typical of my summer. So far we've always had a place to stay and only Ashley and I have gotten on the wrong train once and we still managed to make it to where we going on time...

On the flip side, I was able to form a successful sentence today. I asked a woman at Tesco (similar to Wal-Mart), "Where is the Milka without sugar?" She responded, "Coffee without sugar?" I said, "No, chocolate." She understood and took me there.

It was a small victory, but I was very excited...

Ammendment to Bizarre Cultural Differences: Part 1

I got a receipt from a food stand at a pool the other day that had three pictures on the back featuring topless women!!

Bizarre Cultural Differences: Part 1

As I begin to live (and learn) in this new culture there are many things that are different. I bring you the first in a multi (I'm not sure how many)-part series on the cultural differences I've ran into here in the Czech Republic.


CIRCUMSTANCE ONE:

The Setting: I am sitting at a table in a resturant with one girl from my team, two Austrailians, and one Czech (Christian-this is important to give it context) girl.

The Story: As we are pouring over the menu I see a word that I am unfamiliar with (obviously there wasn't only one, but this one word caught my attention). The word was prsa, as in kuřeci prsa. I know that kuřeci is chicken, but I have no idea what prsa is. So I turn to my Czech friend and ask her what prsa is. She pauses, thinks for a moment and then puts her hand over her heart. I look down and say, "Heart", she then grabs her female anatomy and moves it about...my eyes grow wide and I say, "Oh, breast!" with a slight chuckle. It took everything in me to stiffle the laughter that wanted to explode out of me. But for the girl's sake I took it all in stride.

CIRCUMSTANCE TWO:

The Setting: A resturant with my team in the town of Litomeřice.

The Story: While looking over the menu at a pizzeria I came accross an interesting section. The picture that indicated what the section was showed the profile of a baby and some other object. The picture was obviously kiped off the internet, because it was of very poor quality. While I stared at the picture to figure out what the other item was I realized that it was a breast. I never bothered translating the section name, but I could only guess that it was the child's menu...

CONCLUSION AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCE:

Czechs (and most Europeans I'd imagine) have a much different view on sexuality than we do in the States. It isn't confined to the secular world either, as a Christian girl has no problem using her female anatomy to help communicate. I have seen multiple women feeding on trams, in resturants, pretty much anywhere they feel the need to. There are other examples as well, but I will save them for another time!!!

My First Czech Sunday...

The aroma of raspberry tea wafted through the air and the aroma of praise wafted to the heavens as twenty of us sat in a room on the third floor of a building in Karvina, a city just outside of Český Těšín. It was wonderful to sit with these brothers and sisters and listen to the sound of this foreign tongue float through the air. It is remarkable that our God understands every language. I don't think I realized how big our God was until I first heard someone praying in a foreign tongue. It really expands ones view of the vastness of God when we realize that He hears us in all languages. As Americans, we are so Anglo-Centric that we forget that God is a God of the world, not just of the US or English-speaking countries. We serve a BIG God!!

Church was good. We went to a church plant this morning that was planted by the church in Český Těšín. There were only twenty people, but it was sweet. There were four kids there who had all been saved recently from the Jehovah Witness background. There was a gypsy man who was there. (The gypsies are the lepers of the Czech culture and many Eastern European countries. The majority make their living by thievery and the are just not liked by the people). The pastor asked me to share this morning (very typical of the Czechs to ask an American to share during a church service). Fortunately God had really impressed something upon my heart during my time in the Word this morning and so I had something fresh in my heart! The entire time was wonderful and I was very encouraged to be with them.

It is crazy to think that this is my new church family. While my family back in the states is still very involved in my life and ministry, these are the people that I will be walking with daily once I am living in Český Těšín on a regular basis. I am excited and nervous to get to know them...my Czech is going to have to get better much more quickly, though, for me to really invest and be invested into by my new family.