The macbook I've been using still lacks an operating system, so tonight, Brian will try to get one emailed. Then I can post photos. Yay! I have so many of the beautiful Stasin/Lazny area that I want to share with you green-deprived loved ones back in the states.
As I flew into CZ, I noticed fields of yellow dotting the green. Upon investigation and after asking many questions, I discovered that one source of the yellow is cultivated for a kind of kitchen oil and also used for a biofuel they mix with petroleum. The other source of lovely yellow is surprising to one who hails from a weed-obsessed community: dandelions. As far as I can tell (and I may be way off), dandelions are not considered to be pernicious pests like they are in the well-groomed lawn mentality of American landscapers.
Yesterday, I bid a tearful good-bye to my "family" in Lazny. I was surprised how much they seemed to like me after knowing me only 6 days. Melina, the mother, Veronika and Mikola all cried. They printed and framed a photo of all of us taken just hours before I left. Along with two souvenir cups of Stašin (which celebrated its 750 year anniversary in 2004), they presented me with the photo before I left.
This morning I was thinking about the impact they had on me, and that I seemed to have on them. Of course, we were all on our best behaviour, I'm sure, but how sweet to treat strangers with consideration, kindness, and a real desire to understand and to be understood. Melina had no English, and I no Czech, and yet somehow we communicated with each other. Somehow, we bonded.
What if, on a daily basis, we treated those with whom we share tradition and language--our own families--with that kind of attention?
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