Annual Update....

I never meant this to be an annual thing...
Well the big news since last year is that the girls started at Czech school this September. They go to Zakládní Škola Bílá http://www.zsbila.cz/ a primary school in Prague 6 near Dejvice (for those of you who've visited us.)

They have had a lovely term there - apparently coping well with everything being in Czech, although their teachers speak enough English to stop them becoming completely lost.

Otherwise things chug along pretty well. Ali is teaching 60% now, and doing one morning a week at another school in Prague. Big changes are afoot at Riverside - a new building for the senior half of the high school from September, and we have just been accepted to teach the International Baccalaureate, which will be exciting but involves a lot of work. In November I went to Denver to attend a conference on teaching "The Theory of Knowledge" for IB - a great experience although a bit too long away from the family for my taste.

Harriet has started playing football for a local team, and had the great experience of her team leading out the players at Sparta Prague one home game.

This week we went to a show put on by Emelia's class at school - a play which of course we barely understood, but it was lovely and decidedly Czech - after the play the chairs were arranged in a circle and we were encouraged to join in communal carol singing. Again, we were hampered somewhat by our lack of Czech, but Emelia got stuck in. She, by the way, is wanting to move away from 'Mimi' as her name, as that means baby in Czech. She likes the diminutive of one of her middle names - Hannah becomes Haničká which she likes. Harriet like the Czech version of her name - Jindřišká - only when it is her 'name day' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_days_in_the_Czech_Republic

The girls also gave a performance at their music school, a video of which should be attached.


Music lessons in Czech and from a blind teacher have been some more of the new experiences for them.

More big news is that my brother and sister-in-law are moving out to Prague in January: Simon has been appointed as the director of the new study centre that our church (www.internationalchurchofprague.cz) is setting up, so they have been busy getting a flat and all the other things that are involved in international moving. This wil be the first time I have lived so close to Si since about 1981, so it is very exciting. :)

More performance news - The girls took part in a musical put on by our church, and had the great experience of performing it in front of several hundred people in the exquisitely beautiful Old Town Square in Prague. They loved it, and Harriet was most disconcerting in a blonde wig.

So we are looking forward to the New Year, enjoying a break from school. More chance of seeing updated photos on Facebook - just search for Trevor Marshall - but I will try to be more organised about the blog.