Czeching out...

Now that the season is officially over, it's crazy to think that in just a few days we will be leaving our sweet town of Prostejov, Czech Republic and heading back to our home in Phoenix!  It's exciting...yet bitter sweet.  One of the ironic things about living in a different city every year is that once you finally get used to the place you live and start really appreciating the great things about it (which usually happens as the weather gets warmer), it seems like its time to leave.

I think Travis would agree that we have really enjoyed living in Prostejov.  At times it was hard to appreciate the idea of living in a small town (again), where you understand nothing (as usual), and where most of the time time we lived here it was freezing cold (typical), but when it really gets down to it there is SO much beauty in this town and so many amazing people here that we have met.  We have made connections and friendships and had experiences with people that we will NEVER forget.  And that is what this experience is all about.

Things I will miss about Prostejov:

1. The beautiful town center

2. Sipping lattes, milkshakes and smoothies at our favorite outdoor cafes in the center

3.  Taking walks with Niko in the woods and to the park

4. Eating fresh strawberries from the market down the street

5. Potato pancakes and goulash (YUM)

6. Eating out for lunch for less than 8 bucks for the two of us
(158Kc=7.5USD)

7. Being able to walk to the grocery store

8. Playing in the backyard of our apartment building with Travis and Niko

9. My awesome English students

10. Ice cream cones from Aida

All in all, I think we can honestly say this has been an experience we will never forget.  We don't know what the future holds for us, but we know that someday we will look back on this time in our lives and remember all the positive experiences we had here in Prostejov.  You never know...we might be coming back here sooner than we think.  "Never say never"...thats my motto!

Polish history time--Auschwitz

Hi everyone, Travis here.  Now that my season has just finished, Jackie and I have one week left here in the Czech Republic before we go home.  We had an interesting idea to go visit Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland, which is only a 2 and half hour drive away.  So we packed up the car in the morning and took off toward Jackie's motherland of Poland.  We had a brief detour due to a highway being closed and we almost didn't make the trip because we had no idea how to get there, but thank goodness we brought the iPad!  

Upon our arrival we checked in to go on a tour of the camp and had a great guide named Ivan who took us through the whole museum of Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz Birkenau.  It was definitely an interesting place to tour and very eye opening. It was amazing to experience that type of world history.  

Entrance to Auschwitz 1 "Work for Freedom"

This was a sarcastic phrase the Nazis used as a greeting at the entrance to Auschwitz

Two, thick barbed wire, high voltage electrical fences surrounding the camp

Auschwitz I

This room was filled of the remains of pots and pans from the camp.  

This was one of many rooms filled with household items and human remains of the prisoners including items such as, brushes, glasses, razors and human hair.

Inside the main gas chamber at Auschwitz I, where millions of Jews were exterminated at the Nazi occupied camps in Poland.

Railway entering Auschwitz-Birkenau where prisoners were taken of rail cars for immediate selection.  They were either fit for work or sent to the gas chambers.

Memorial to the one and a half million men, women and children murdered 

Ruins from the destroyed gas chambers

Inside the prisoners barracks

After the 3 and half hour tour we left Auschwitz and headed back home to Czech and enjoyed the Polish scenery

The famous Polish "zcz"

Polish flag crossing the border

Beautiful Polish sunset

Victory at last

The season is finally coming to a close.  Travis' team, BK Prostejov, won the semi-final round for the Czech league last week against Decin.  The series was the best of 5 games, we had the home court advantage.  We won both of the first two homes matches, but lost both away games, and were lucky enough to play the 5th and final game here in Prostejov. Needless to say, it was a nail biter and an extremely exciting win for our team!

Here's some action shots of Travis that I was able to get at the game.

Slam dunk!  18 points for Peterson

I am so proud of my husband, he played a fantastic game to help his team to the VICTORY!

So the team is officially at least the 2nd best team in the Czech Republic, which is great, but now it's time to go for the GOLD!    

Now they are facing off in the finals against Nymburk, who have consistently been ranked #1 in the league all season, so it's going to be a tough series.  Right now they are down 2-0 to Nymburk, but will now get a chance to redeem themselves on our home court with 2 more back-to-back games this weekend.  It's the best of 7 games, so it should be an interesting final series. 

Keep checking in as I will be giving updates on our departure status as well as the results for the final series!

Viennese Beauty

On Saturday, Travis and I were fortunate enough to take a trip to Vienna which is about 2 hours South of Prostejov.  I've been wanting to go there for the past 4 months and have been bugging Travis about going every time he has had a day off, but it had just never worked out for one reason or another until now.  I am so glad we were able to go because it was absolutely beautiful.  We were lucky to have perfect sunny weather, so we walked around the city ALL afternoon.

St. John's Cathedral

Every building and park was more beautiful than the next.  I kept telling Travis that we should move to Vienna because I was so amazed at how gorgeous a city it is.  There were cute little outdoor cafes lining the city center streets.  It has a very cute and artsy European feel but with big city bustle, which was very charming.

Vienna City Center

After walking around the city all day, we took a nice break to enjoy some Austrian cake, pastries and coffee at Aida cafe and then went to the Schonbrunn Palace, which was the most beautiful place I may have ever seen.  The pictures don't do it justice.  

The palace ground and gardens were so big that we probably could have spent all day just exploring.  But we were able to see the main parts.  

We trekked it up to the monument at the top of the hill that overlooks the entire city.  It was breathtaking.

And quite romantic

After leaving the Palace we were so incredibly exhausted.  We wandered around trying to find some place to eat, but there was not much around.  The first place we stumbled upon was a Chinese restaurant, so we figured what the heck.  We were hoping to find a typical Austrian restaurant, but there was no way our legs were going to take us any further, so we settled with Chinese.  We were the only people in the restaurant other than the family working and the menu was completely in German.  We ended up just taking a guess on what to order, since no one spoke English or Czech in the place.  

Travis wasn't too happy about it, but I thought it wasn't half bad.  I was just glad we had guessed chicken dishes and not something made from cat!!!  

I'm so glad we were able to experience Vienna, it was definitely a little adventure for us.

If you ever have the opportunity to go to Vienna I HIGHLY recommend it!   

Happy Easter

Just to update everyone, I have been back in Czech now for two weeks.  I had an amazing time visiting my family in Franklin and taking a spring break trip to Florida, but now I'm back and trying to enjoy the rest of my time with here with Travis.  I'm not gonna lie, it was definitely hard for me to adjust coming back here after being at home for two weeks.  Not only is it hard to re-adjust to the 8 hr time change, but just getting back to day-to-day life was a bit of a challenge.  Life in general out here is at a much slower pace than back home, and once I got used to being busy and having activities and family and friends around me all the time, it makes life out here seem very dull.  Now that it's been two weeks I can definitely say I'm glad to be back though.  The weather has gotten a bit warmer, so thats a plus, and I'm especially glad to be back with Travis and Niko.  I think Easter is a great time for me to just remember Christ's resurrection and be thankful for all the wonderful blessings he has given us.  

On Friday, Travis' team finished the regular season with a win against Kolin.  They are officially in 2nd place in the Czech league and will start the playoffs next weekend!  I can't believe how close we are to the end of the season.  After the win, Travis was fortunate to have a couple of days off, so we were able to take a little road trip to Bratislava, Slovakia.  It was the first time we have had a chance to travel since the New Year, so we were excited to see a new city.  The weather wasn't great (a little rainy) so we weren't able to see everything we wanted, but we were able to walk around the castle where the President of Slovakia lives.  It's a huge castle up on a hill that overlooks the whole city, which was pretty cool.  We also ate some really good Brazilian food...who woulda thunk Slovakia would have Brazilian?  Here's a few pics from our trip.

Travis and I at the Slovakian Castle

 One of the courtyards at the castle.  We were surprised at how little security there was considering the President lives there.

overlooking the city of Bratislava

The UFO

Super creepy... we saw this outside a house in Bratislava.

We really enjoyed our time in Bratislava and we decided we will have to go back when the weather is nicer and explore some more.

Today we spent time in Prostejov and took a walk down by the river with Niko.  He was a very happy dog!

Even though we weren't able to spend our Easter Sunday with family and friends we still feel very blessed to be together and be where we are.  We wish everyone a Happy Easter!    

Homeward Bound

I have a long trip ahead of me tomorrow across the pond.  I'm flying home to see my family in Nashville and I can't wait!   First, I have to take a train at 6 am from Prostejov to Prague, which takes about 2 and a half hours and then I take the bus from the train station to the airport.  After that I get on my 9 hour and 15 minute flight to New York.  Luckily, I have a direct flight from Prague to New York, so it will make my travel a little bit easier and faster than usual.  It's going to be a long trip, but it will definitely be worth it.  Unfortunately, I will be making this trip alone because Travis has to work :(  He and Niko are sad that I'm leaving, but I'll only be gone for about 2 weeks...so I think they will be ok! But I am sure going to miss them both!  Sometimes living out here can get a little monotonous after awhile when you don't have family and friends close to you or a whole lot going on, so this vacay is much needed for me.

For those of you that don't know my Mom had a minor stroke right after Christmas and has been recovering for the past couple of months.  I haven't been able to see her or my Dad since before it happened, so I really wanted to get home as soon as I could to show my support.  My Mom is recovering really well and I am thankful that I will be able to spend a couple of weeks with her!  I am also thankful that I am getting home for awhile at the perfect time for a spring break vacay to Florida.  Perfect timing on my part :)  We are taking a trip down to Mt. Dora, Florida right outside Orlando to see my Uncle at his beautiful B&B, The Adora Inn!  I can't wait for a little sunshine in my life.  It's going to be a fabulous trip!

Keeping up with the Petersons

Since everyone is blogging these days, Travis and I just decided that we should start our own blog up again, so here we are!  In the past we have not done a great job at keeping up with our blogs, but we are going to try our best to keep this one updated.  Sometimes being overseas makes it harder to keep in touch with people, so we hope this is a good way to let all our friends and family know what we are up to from time to time.

Just to catch everyone up that may not know, Travis and I are currently living in Prostejov, Czech Republic.  Travis is playing for BK Prostejov and we are really enjoying our time here.  It's a really cute little city on the East side of the country.  Prostejov is a small town, but it's actually a lot nicer and bigger than any other place we have lived so far in Europe.  We have movie theaters, shopping centers and good restaurants close by--so its a big step up from where we lived in Bulgaria.  The little things like that make a big difference for us.

Prostejov town center

Travis' team has been doing pretty well so far this season.  They are in second place in Czech league right now and have stayed pretty competitive throughout the season.  I have been teaching lots of English lessons, which has been pretty fun.  I've met a lot of nice people through my lessons and its been keeping me busy so I feel blessed to have this opportunity.

Other things that have happened this year...if you don't know.  We bought our first house in July out in Phoenix and we absolutely love it!  We are gearing up for this Summer so we can finally spend some real quality time in our house.  Travis left for the Czech in August so he wasn't able to spend as much time in our house at first, but we are so happy that we have a place to call home now.  I was lucky enough to spend about 5 months there while I was coaching volleyball, but I can't wait to get back.  Right now my wonderful sister-in-law, Kristen and her husband, Travis are holding down the fort for us!  We are ready for some good pool parties, lots of sun and DIY projects when we get back in June.   And Niko is ready to spend some time with his buddy Gunner too!!

We also had a great experience this year that we were able to share with my sister, Jordan and her boyfriend, Sloan.  They came to visit us in in December and we took an amazing trip where we spend time in Paris, Amsterdam and Prague.  It was a very memorable experience and we were so happy they could come out and travel with us.  Here's a few pics from the trip.

Arc de Triumph, Paris

Amsterdam

St. Charles Bridge, Prague

So that is pretty much what we have been doing the past few months.  All in all we have had a great year so far and are very blessed to be where we are.  We hope this blog will give people a chance to catch up with us every once and a while.