Mini family reunion

Saturday, May 10, 2014

   Petr arranged a small family reunion so that we could see everyone. Petr planned to make wild hog skewers. He marinated the meat over night and we helped with the assembly. (Steve looked very handsome in the 100 year old apron.)

   While we were working on the skewers, Petr’s son Richard and his wife stopped by. They were on their way to southern Moravia and stopped by to say hello.

   We went back to the chateau around lunch time and then stayed there until everyone arrived after 2 PM. It was a fun gathering. The sun came out and we were able to stay outside. It was actually quite warm. In addition to everyone we have already seen on Thursday, Radka (Petr’s daughter) came with her boyfriend and one of her daughters. We tried to figure out when Radka and I saw each other last and best we could remember was that it was during Vlada’s wedding 30 years ago. We also got to meet Jarka’s daughters. One has a 9 month old baby girl and one has a 2 year old boy and expecting another in about a month. 

   Most of my relatives here in the Czech Republic feel that homeschooling is odd. And I generally get a feeling they do not approve of it (even though they are being polite and not tell us that straight in the face). But talking with Jarka’s daughters – moms of young children – I got a different vibe. They asked a lot of questions about how homeschooling works, how we choose curriculum and what our days look like. Whether or not they would consider homeschooling (it is legal in the Czech Republic) they seemed a lot more open to the idea than others who already had grown children. 

   Later after dark, Regina and I saw police officers pulling cars over at the intersection in front of the chateau. We were going back outside to tell everyone to make sure they do not get pulled over. We were wondering if someone called them because there was a party going on (this includes a lot of drinking and singing in Moravia). Petr told us they were his friends and that we should not worry. He asked if Steve would come down to speak with them (Steve was upstairs with the kids getting them settled for the night). By the time Steve got downstairs, they left. Petr called dispatch and asked them to come back. Another police car showed up with two officers. We went to speak with them to find out that they never met Petr before. Apparently, as far as Petr is concerned, everyone is his friend. However, Steve and the two officers had a good conversation.

First hog hunt

Friday, May 9, 2014

   We originally planned to go to Roznov pod Radhostem to visit the wooden village but we got up too late. We just spent the day with Petr and Jarka after she came back from work. 

   During the day, Petr and Steve mowed the lawn at the chateau. Steve was eager to get started but Petr said they had to have a beer first (it was about 10 AM). 

In the evening, Steve and Petr went hog hunting. I stayed with the kids with Jarka. When it was time to get the kids to bed, I realized, I would not be able to find my way back to the chateau in the dark (I made several wrong turns during the day and I have no idea where I would get in the dark). We decided we would spend the night at Petr’s house instead. Petr and Steve came home around 10 PM. They did not get any hogs but they had a good time.

Visiting Regina's Family

Thursday, May 8, 2014

   We made plans ahead of time to see my cousin Regina on Thursday. Petr arranged a small family reunion for Saturday but Regina had plans for Saturday (she organized a team from her village to attend a cabbage soup contest in Slovakia - they finished 5th out of 15!). Petr and Jarka drove there with us on Thursday morning as we did not know the way. We got to see Regina, her husband Petr, her daughter Nela and her mom Pavla. 

   We visited and caught up on the 12 or 13 years since I last saw them. Regina lives in the old house in Nosovice where her grandmother used to live. She and her husband have done some amazing work and the home looks beautiful. They also have a gorgeous garden. 

Regina and Pavla made lunch and after lunch we walked to the nearby playground. The kids had a  blast. We returned to Regina’s house around supper time and had sandwiches.  

 

   After eating, we drove to Nizni Lhoty to visit cousin Jena. He was having a small family gathering at his house and we joined them for a little while. The kids kept busy climbing a tree. Jena and his girlfriend have also put quite a lot of work into home renovations. My dad was born in this house and we used to come visit here in during the summers when I was kid. My aunt Marta (Jena’s mom) used to live here with her family. 

   We walked across the street to see Vilda’s (my dad’s cousin) weekend home. They also renovated it quite a bit and pretty much the only thing inside than stayed the same was the staircase.

We drove back to the chateau at 10 PM and just crashed after a busy day.

Driving to Moravia

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

   We woke up early and packed our things for five days. We plan to come back on Monday, May 12^. We are going to Uncle Petr’s house and it is about 260 miles away in the north eastern corner of the Czech Republic. 

   We left around 9:30 AM and drove towards Prague. We took the new Prague bypass which was built about 2 years ago and was truly a blessing. In the past one had to drive through local streets with lots of traffic. After that we connected to highway D1 going south east to Brno and from there we continued north. We missed our exit and had to turn around. But even with the small delay, we arrived at 3:30 PM. When I was a kid and we went to visit our family in Moravia, it was an all day trip as there was no highway, we drove on small local roads. We called Petr and he met us in the village as it was hard to find the way to his house. 

   We followed him to his house where we got out and let the kids run free. We sat in the garden and Petr and Jarka prepared dinner for us. We had elk meat stuffed with elk sausage, pickle and egg (this meal is usually made with beef and is called “Spanish Bird”). The kids enjoyed just running around after 6 hours in the car. They played with Uncle Petr’s dog Becky. We also looked at the fallow deer Uncle Petr keeps at his house.

   After dinner, coffee and the mandatory plum brandy and beer, Peter and Jarka took us to their little chateau. Jarka’s grandfather bought this chateau about a hundred years ago. It is not quite clear how old the building actually are (definitely more than 100 years). Petr and Jarka use it for family gatherings and also as hunting lodge. This was our first time staying in a chateau. We had a whole floor of the large building to ourselves including a kitchen. We did not cook much (our relatives cooked great food for us) but it was very handy in the mornings as we generally just made our own breakfast. Jarka gave us home made bread, eggs from their neighbor and elk sausage. Since Petr is an avid hunter, they rarely buy meat in the grocery store. Therefore we got to enjoy elk, wild hog and deer meat during our trip.