One Year Anniversary...A Look at the Cons

Wow - hard to believe this is true, however we have now called Prague home for one year! I would have said one 'full' year but since the kids and I lived in Windham for the an entire month last summer it does not seem quite accurate. It's a technicality but all too true nonetheless :) With that said, let me return to the subject at hand...we have been Expats living abroad since March 27, 2007 and it is only fair to try to put some perspective on that. When this whole adventure started it had a sort of romanticized feel to it. A chance to live in Europe? In one of the most beautiful cities in the world? With someone else paying for the flight and to move our belongings over? What could be better than that? What could possibly be a con to that magnificent list of pros?

Con 1 - Housing Woes
Well, for starters there was the whole having to live in an apartment...excuse me, a flat...again. Could we have found a house? Sure, but then we would have been further out from the city than we already are and the public transportation did not seem as readily available in all areas...or if it was, Ben would have had to endure a commute over 15 minutes long (by metro), over 20 (by tram) or...gasp...over 30 (by foot). After leaving the 45-60 minute, one-way drive behind him, Ben was really not up for anything longer than 20 minutes by metro. Not to put the entire blame on Ben and his commute, you really have to start thinking about how far away a store is too boot. Without a car to go shopping, perishables become somewhat of a new challenge. So, in all fairness, the few villas that we did see (and they were shared, not single family set ups) were beautiful but I would have arrived home with melted and wilted everything.

Con 2 - Language Difficulties
Next up, the language barrier. With slightly more than a (calendar) year under my belt I now know all (4) daily greetings from Good Morning through Good Evening...though truth be told, I had learned them on my visit back in 2006! However, I will say the pronunciation is much better than a year ago and I now know the correct times of the day that these apply to. I know my numbers from 0-20...a great help at the supermarket when they ask you how many items are bagged up from the bakery, as well as when someone asks how long I have lived here. Could I ask these same questions? No - it is just through the repetition of being asked the same things...How many of these do you have? Do you want to keep these hangers? How old are your children? How long have you lived here? What would you like to drink?...that I can fake my way through :) I can ask how someone is doing...and answer back if asked myself. I can say "Nice to meet you" but really do not have much of an opportunity to use that one! Yes - No - Thank You - Please Hello - Goodbye - See you again - and of course my favorite...Sorry, I cannot speak Czech, do you speak English? There are more but nothing quite qualifies as being conversational. My plan is to have private lessons this summer and we have started using breakfast time to listen to the language programs we have so maybe some day I can actually have a very short conversation and not feel like a failure for my lack of ability with Czech. This is a very hard language to wrap our tongues around and the Slavic-base is nothing like the Latin-based Romantic languages we are taught or used to hearing.
Honestly, America fails its people with the lack of education in the language department. We start later than almost every country and we do not have enough of a push to really learn a language flat out. To top it off, we are a bit idiotic in the languages we do present to our scholars. Point being, we are taught Parisian French. Do we live near Paris? No, we border Canada to our North and let me tell you from experience having dealt with both countries and listened to what they have to say...THEY ARE NOT ONE AND THE SAME! The dialects are as different from one country to another as they are throughout the various regions within their territories. To the opposite end of America is Mexico, South America, and their own territories and islands. Do we learn Mexican? Nope, once again we cross The Pond and learn the Spanish of Europe. Once again, very different dialects and structures and as with the Canadian-Parisian comparison...THEY ARE NOT ONE AND THE SAME! However, as this is not the point of this entry I will move on.

Con 3 - Communication
Another disheartening hurdle has been the lack of day-to-day contact with friends and family that had been so much a part of our daily existence. At the start, this did not seem like it was going to be so hard. There were daily flights to and from both countries...surely we would see people. We obtained a Skype phone number based in Massachusetts to make calling easier on everyone back in the States...surely we would hear from people. We added this new Blog to our standing website so that everyone could read about our new lives...surely people would leave comments as is the standard on every Blog out there. So what happened to all these great plans? Well, not everyone can really afford to take the time or spend the cash on a flight to Europe. That is not to say we have not had any visitors, or that we are not grateful beyond measure for the ones we have had, it is just that we had hoped for many more. Skype has not worked out as planned for 2 reasons: (1) almost no one has jumped on the bandwagon and downloaded this FREE method of communicating with us and (2) because of the time difference, and because this is a computer-based tool there is a limited window for great connections with a land-line.
Now, contrary to popular belief, this is neither Eastern Europe nor is it a third world country. They do have internet and satellite and cable television here. However, that said, I must admit we are living with one of the worst internet connections that we have ever had since 1991! We get dropped many times a day, lose our connection for hours at a time, and worst of all have issues with sending emails because of our new International ISP address and people's high level security settings on their work and home pc's. So honestly, the best and easiest way to guarantee communication with us is through Skype since it has voicemail, ongoing chat ability, and is live. We have it installed on our living room machine - which is connected to our television - so we get immediate notification of any and all activity. We have made it very easy for everyone to find us...our Skype name is the same as our website: CasadeHodson. Get it and use it people. We miss you all and want to stay in touch as much as possible!!!
On to the Blog. I am not sure how familiar everyone is with the concept of a Blog but let me explain some basics. One or more people write the entries, people hopefully read the entries, and then the readers write their comments to the entries. This allows many things to happens: the writer(s) know that the entries have been read, the reader(s) get a chance to express their opinions on what they read, and it is yet another tool to open up the lines of communication. There is nothing more disheartening to us than to hear someone read the Blog..or read about the fact they read it in some various email account. This is something that takes a lot of time, energy, and vulnerability to write and put together. Right now, the only reason we continue to write is so that we ourselves have a running account and history of our life here. It would be nice to receive from feedback from time to time or just a quick message that lets us know this isn't pointless.

Con 4 - Health Insurance
You have seen my earlier entries about obtaining healthcare coverage here and I will not bore you all with a recap of those times. However, I did just go through the renewals for the children and for myself and I still wanted to bang my head against a wall through the entire experience!
First, I will take some of the blame for why this was not the smoothest transaction. I somehow fooled myself into believing that the three of us ran out on the same day and that I had plenty of time to get the renewals done. I knew Logan had an upcoming Doctor visit on April 1st so I took out his insurance card to verify he would be covered that day. I was looking at the card on March 14th...he and Alex had only been covered through the 13th. I was in a total panic. Since I had let it run out, I now had visions of going through all the initial requirements again and I was not thrilled at this prospect. However, the following Monday I ran over to their pediatrician and asked for renewal letters in hopes that I would be given a 7 day grace period. The letters would be ready on Wednesday...and could I please bring Alex in that day as well for a very important vaccination. Umm - yes I could do that and I prayed that they would overlook the fact that she would not have any insurance. Wednesday we went to the office, she received her vaccination and I was given my letters...nobody mentioned the fact that the coverage had expired and I was not going to mention it either. I dropped her off at school, picked up Logan from the flat so that Ben could get to work, and headed to VZP. Here is where the renewal fun began...
There is no such thing as a 'Grace Period' here and there was also no such thing as an easy renewal process. I had to fill out two application forms (per child) again, attach the Doctor's letters of approval to continue their coverage, and then they still had to send the forms out to that "specialist" they talk so much about for his stamp of approval. Come back next week. I received no tongue lashing for waiting so long, yet I humbly left the office with my renewal applications in hand. I still had about 11 days on my insurance but had yet to even see a doctor so I had to find one and get a renewal letter of my own!
While this was going on, Ben decided to add me to the Mediconet program that he received through work. I could now see a whole slew of doctors and specialists and not have to worry about hunting one down on my own. Logan and I met him at Mediconet, paid for my policy with them, picked up my contract, and made an appointment for my physical so I could get the renewal letter...the earliest they could get me in was March 27th. Great - I still had coverage for 5 days after that so I should be fine.
I had my appointment, received my letter, and the next day I headed to VZP to finalize Alex and Logan's policies and start my renewal. I did all the things one needs to do to obtain their new cards and then passed in my paperwork. Well, the ration of %^$# I received this time was over the top. They knew I had started everything late, they knew I had just picked up my paperwork the week prior, they knew that I could not obtain my letter until I had my appointment but none of that mattered. What mattered most was giving me a hard time and beating a dead horse even more.I still do not understand why it was no big deal to them that the children had almost 3 weeks of no health coverage whatsoever but boy did they give me a hard time about the fact that I would now go 3 days without any coverage!!!I had gone 6 months without insurance, did they really think I cared about 3 days?!?!? Anyhow, I left with the kid's cards and that was what mattered most to me. Plus, my renewal was now in the hands of 'the specialist' so things were out of my control. I was asked to come back the following Friday and we left.
As it turned out, the following Friday I was home with two sick kids and was not going to be able to get to VZP. Whatever...I was not in a rush. Monday afternoon came and I still had not made it to VZP since it was raining all day. Again, no biggie. Well, then I received an IM from Ben telling me he needed all of our health cards and Passports since our Visa renewals were almost complete. Now, it was a big deal and we worked out a way to get me to VZP the following morning...on my own...so that I could do things quickly. By 10:30am on Tuesday April 8th I had my new card in hand. The best thing about it all was that I had renewed the three of us for a year so I do not have to deal with VZP again until March 2009...when I make sure I go in 14 days before any of our policies expire :)

Con 5 - Over the top PDA
I am sure I will get a lot of flack on this one but I do not care. It is not something I am going to change my feelings on and that is all there is to it. What, some of you may be asking, is the issue? What is a PDA? Well, for those not in the know it stands for Public Display of Affection. So, again, what is the issue? I will tell you...
Hugs and kisses are one thing. I think it is great that people are in love and that they want the whole world to know. However, I draw the line at unbelievable displays that are all around me. I do turn away, thank you very much, but most of the time it is just to see another PDA more over the top than the last! People cannot seem to control themselves at all. This is more than your basic snog or the hands in the jeans pocket that you see anywhere else. This is literally the most furious game of tongue hockey to the worst "Get a Room!" moment you can possibly imagine. There was only one incident, thank God, where I honestly had to look for a camera set up somewhere because they could have been shooting a (very adult) movie but there have just been too many times when I have had to witness things that are best left in private.
Europe is definitely more open about their physical attractions and sex in general and I am trying not to be a prude but honestly, there are just some things that I should not have to be explaining about yet to my 4 year old!

Con 6 - Stand Out Like A Sore Thumb
From the blanks stares on our faces when someone approaches and speaks Czech to the fact that I refuse to dress my kids like Nanook of the North and everything in between, we do not come across as Czech Citizens and thus seem to be objects of much scrutiny.
The first will hopefully become less of an issue over time as we learn more of the language so for now, I can deal with the little laugh after I tell people I do not speak Czech or the way the women at Albert like to 'discuss' us at the check-out line (this is not in my mind, they literally point right at us and say things to each other with little laughs or smirks), even the need to carry around my Phrase Book and the new huge Anglicko-Cesky Dictionary we purchased is alright with me since I am learning new words everyday.
The second will continue to be an issue as I flat out cannot adhere to the thought process that my children must be drowning in a pool of sweat inside their layers of clothing to be healthy. It is obvious that this all results from generations past when women thought it best to have their children in 2 or 3 more layers than they themselves were wearing...as if babies and children did not have the natural ability to be warm. The US, famous for its studies, stated a few years ago...with the results of years long tests...that babies and children DO NOT NEED to be dressed in any more than that which is comfortable for the parent. Layers are great but can be taken off.
This new found bounty of information will most likely not hit this region for another 10-15 years and those who have elder family members helping them out will still have to struggle with the taboos of those bygone eras, however I am sure that one day there will be happy Czech children who are not overladen with 5 layers of clothes, a snowsuit, and a fleece cover over their strollers in 50-60 degree weather.
Until that time, I will continue to dress my children and myself in what I feel is appropriate for the temperature du jour...and I am not one of those crazy people who pull out the t-shirts and shorts for the first 60 degree day...and I will take the stares and dirty looks in stride.
As for everything else in between, well it is only bound to get better with more time under our belts. We will never be true Czech Citizens but as time goes by I think we will definitely fade a bit more into the background and begin fitting in.
Now with every bad list, there also comes a good and there are a bunch of Pro thoughts on the way...I just could not subject anyone to 'the never-ending blog entry' :)