The Marshalls in Prague

Vaclav Havel

2011-12-21T14:34:00.000+01:00

How do you mark the passing of a man like Vaclav Havel? The Czechs did it in the most fitting way possible: just as in the Prague spring of 1968 or the Velvet Revolution of 1989, they took to the streets, and they took to the streets in their thousands. At first it was in Wenceslas Square, that famous Prague boulevard named for another great Vaclav: here they came to leave their tribute, a candle, a picture, a single rose or lily; or they simply stood and reflected in quiet contemplation. In the days since his death this tribute has grown until the wax has flowed over the St Wenceslas (Vaclav in Czech) monument. Then today they took once again to the streets and followed his coffin across the beautiful Charles Bridge, under lowering skies, through Malostranské náměstí, and up the Royal Route to the Castle.

At the corner of Malostranské náměstí I stood and waited: I had wondered if the crowds hurrying through the streets with me could have been on the way to watch, but had thought it unlikely - surely even Havel would not command such attention? The late president's widow had invited the people to join her as she followed her husband's coffin on its journey, but I wondered just how many would bother in these busy pre-Christmas days. When I finally left, 30 minutes after the passing of the coffin, the crowds were still coming.

As the single hearse passed by, the mourners close behind, the crowd where I stood burst into spontaneous applause. There was nothing here of the hysteria currently on display in North Korea, or so bewilderingly shown at the death of Diana. Here there was silence, save for the intrusive chatter of police radios. There were no great outpourings of grief: these wonderful people, so often unfairly accused of dourness, in reality are very reserved, and today they expressed their collective grief through simply being there. In their thousands they had nearly defeated the Russians in 68 and in their thousands they had brought down the communist government in 89, their implacable collective spirit proving victorious. And today in their thousands they simply came to follow the earthly remains of the man who had led them 22 years ago as it was taken back to the castle where he had served as 10th president of Czechoslovakia, and first president of the Czech Republic.

They followed in quiet, sombre pride, that this man, 'pan (Mr) President' who had not sought power yet had exerted it in the main with integrity, that this man's funeral in this small historic nation at the very heart of Europe, would draw world leaders, past and present. It would draw them not because they needed to curry favour with it s leaders, for the current president Vaclav (memorably dismissed by my septuagenarian neighbour as nothing but 'a suit and a haircut') is a strong euro skeptic, but they will be drawn by a playwright who without question, and with quiet dignity and integrity, changed the face of his nation and of Europe.

Annual Update....

2008-12-19T22:08:00.002+01:00

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.

Photos etc

2007-12-24T09:01:00.001+01:00

Well, Christmas here again...

It has been cold here for a while, but never quite managing to snow properly: but a proper winter unlike last year - days on end with temperatures not making it above minus 4 or 5. Thankfully the house is warm.

For pictures of our last few months, the best option is to be on Facebook - this is just the easiest way to upload photos. However, if you aren't on facebook, then here are some links to some of the photos of the last 6 months or so:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5336&l=04f77&id=640876180
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5068&l=ccf5c&id=640876180
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8855&l=40fd2&id=640876180
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10499&l=acc37&id=640876180
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14223&l=6f536&id=640876180
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=23850&l=8946b&id=640876180
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17776&l=561e7&id=640876180
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28759&l=0cb93&id=640876180
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26125&l=af0cc&id=640876180
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24096&l=b398d&id=640876180
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32508&l=e98ce&id=640876180
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34719&l=fc943&id=640876180
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34721&l=e3a02&id=640876180

So, veselé Vánoce a št’astný Nový Rok

Skiing

2007-03-01T11:13:00.000+01:00

New Year Firweworks

2007-01-04T16:23:00.000+01:00

2007-01-01T00:55:00.000+01:00

One of the minor twinges of regret I had about leaving the flat was not being able to enjoy the firework display on New Year's eve. Well, Ali and I stood outside the house this New Year, sipping Champagne and watching fireworks go off all around us for 25 minutes, and when the cold sent us in they still carried on until 10 to one. Incredible, magical.
The happiest of New Years to you all.

Goose!

2006-12-26T12:32:00.000+01:00

2006-12-26T12:20:00.000+01:00

So, Christmas No: 2 in Czech Republic. This time not even a hint of snow, and of course the first one in our house. We had a rush to try to get the living rooms habitable - the lounge floor was not finished until Friday, so we were very busy trying to get things sorted (Christmas day unpacking kithcen boxes etc) but it was so good to be able to cook a dinner in the kitchen and enjoy how well designed it was (!).

Goose was the order of the day, and it was clapped to the table Bob Cratchet style.

So happy Christmas to you all!

Christmas 06

2006-12-26T11:47:00.000+01:00

2006-12-19T21:51:00.000+01:00

Finally it seems like we have proper winter weather arriving. Last week I was outside at lunchtime in my shirtsleeves and was not even vaguely cold. Now it seems some proper cold has set in.

A few pix from the last few days: Ju and Ger have been here and we've had some great fun. Hoping for snow tomorrow!

Pix

2006-12-19T21:41:00.000+01:00

2006-12-19T18:10:00.000+01:00

2006-11-07T00:44:00.000+01:00

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Autumn in Uholicky

2006-10-26T19:13:00.000+02:00

The lovely Howells family have come to visit. Here are some pictures.
Enjoy.

Old neighbour Ding...

2006-10-04T22:03:00.000+02:00

My mum delighted Harriet and Emelia (and us) when she recited this poem to them when Mum and Dad where here at the start of September. It was taught her by her old aunt, and I've googled it without success.

Enjoy!
Old neighbour Ding and old neighbour Dong
Each owned a garden about – ‘so’ long
With nothing between the two to divide,
Save a short gravel path about 'so' wide.
Now these two old neighbours, like neighbourly neighbours,
Shared in each other’s gardening labours.

Flowers as bright as a skylark’s song
Bloomed in the gardens of Ding and Dong.
A thousand sweet and fragrant scents
Were wafted up to these two old gents,
And all was calm as a grazing cow,
Till one of the men started a row.

Old neighbour Ding declared, with precision,
It was old neighbour Dong’s turn to weed that division.
Old neighbour Dong said he’d see Ding to Bath
Before he’d weed that wretched old path.
Ding added a dozen to each word of Dong’s,
And soon they were going it, hammer and tongs.

They argued away, till each was so weak,
They could only gesticulate, neither could speak.
Then looking their scorn, and with uplifted chin,
They retired to their rooms and shut themselves in.
Each vowed in his heart he’d not weed that path
Till the other came round and repented his wrath.

Oh the days grew so long for old Dong and old Ding.
They forgot how to whistle, they forgot how to sing.
They’d gaze through the window, they’d stand at the door,
Each aching and longing for friendship once more.
In fact their old hearts were just ready to burst,
But each was too proud, by far, to speak first.

Down on the pathway, so narrow and straight
The weeds put in overtime, early and late,
They grew in profusion, so thick and so green
Until not a vestige of path could be seen.
And then, they spread all over the garden,
But still neither man would beg t’other’s pardon.

But old neighbour Ding, like a sensible man,
Scratched the top of his head, while he thought out a plan.
For a long time he scratched, looking worried and grave,
Then all of a sudden, he had a brainwave.
His face lit up, like sun after showers,
As he thought how he’d save his beautiful flowers.

When the hours had arrived for retiring to rest,
To deceive neighbour Dong, old Ding did his best:
He banged to the window, he banged to the door,
Took off his boots, dropped them bang on the floor,
Then he made a loud noise, like an elephant roaring,
Just to make neighbour Dong think he was in bed and snoring.

Down on the pathway, Ding muffled a sneeze
And soon he was down on his hands and his knees.
So glad to be out of neighbour Dong’s vision
He started in earnest to weed that division.
It was too dark to see, but his feelings were good,
And he pulled out those weeds just as fast as he could.

Then all of a sudden, old Ding had a fright:
There, right before him, two eyes shining bright!
But before he could call to his neighbour in bed,
Something hard as a brick struck his shiny bald head.
Down on the pathway he fell like a stone
Unable to utter a cry or a groan.

When he came to himself he was lying in bed
And old neighbour Dong was bathing his head.
Forgetting his grudge, old Ding, he spoke first:
‘What hit me?” he said. “Please tell me the worst.”
Then out laughed old Dong, “By this bump on my brow,
“’Twas my head that hit you, most strange, I allow.”

Yes friends it is, as you may have been taught,
In two minds there’s sometimes but one single thought:
Each had planned that same evening that pathway to weed,
Not letting the other one know of his deed.
One had started at the bottom, and one at the top,
Till they bumped their old heads, and came to a stop.

Now these two old neighbours, like neighbourly neighbours,
Share once again in their gardening labours.
But alas they found it was beyond all their powers
To save all their choice and beautiful flowers.
They’d died from neglect – all because of a quarrel:
I’ll leave it to you, friends, to work out the moral.

2006-08-14T21:19:00.000+02:00

Well, one year ago today we arrived in Prague, a day before our furniture, and spent the night in the flat on an inflatable bed.

One year on and we are again camping out: this time in our house, so it is very exciting for us, if slightly daunting. We have a toilet we flush with a bucket, no kitchen and boxes boxes boxes everywhere. It's very exciting though.

We had a fabulous time back in England: 33 days, 3600 miles and fourteen changes of bed, lots and lots of fun and laughter and catching up with friends and family. A sad time to start with, going to Ruth Bury's funeral: Ruth exploded into my life when I was about 10 - and life for us was never the same again. She was a fantastic person and her passing leaves us very sad. To attend the thanksgiving service for her life was such a privilege, and to hear so many testmonies to her faith and the sheer uniqueness of her. She will be so widely missed.

Steve Walton

2006-05-06T09:59:00.000+02:00

Steve Walton
Many of you who know us will also know Steve, and you will know that tragically he died a week ago (29th April). I couldn't add to this blog without paying my own tribute to a lovely lovely man.
We met Steve when he started at Cam House in 1998, and he. Edwina and the (then 2) boys quickly became part of the place. In the key role he played it is easy to forget the big impact he had in softening the sometimes macho tone, with his gentleness. Gentleness and fun are perhaps uppermost in my mind as I think of Steve, but then I also know that they are an inadequate summary: he was so modest and unassuming, declining to see the meritin himself, and almost never failing to see the merit in others.

All this makes him sound like some squeaky clean goody goody, but he made us laugh with his rebellious humour, his exasperation with technology, amazed us with his apparently autistic obsession with calculating the Fantasy League results manually, amused us with the things he was able to call the boys without either malice or offence, scared us with the velocity of his football shooting (when they weren't 'fractionally over').

And Steve valued things that were important. He found Cam House, and knew it was the place for him to be, as it allowed him to be what he did best, teacher, mentor, friend, colleague and above all Dad. At one of the many Mike D'Abo parties we went to he spoke to me of the importance of being content with what you did, not always having to look on to the next best thing, promotion, status. He found what he loved and had the common sense to stick with. We miss him dreadfully, and the impact of his loss on the school and family is immeasurable.

If you knew Steve please feel free to leave your own thoughts and comments here.

2006-04-12T23:59:00.000+02:00

Just downloaded a dashboard widget for the blogger - maybe I'll be a bit better at uploading stuff onto here now.

Spring

2006-04-12T23:18:00.000+02:00

Spring is (as is the nature of a spring, I suppose) going up and down at the moment: 20 degrees C a couple of weeks ago, closer to 4 or 5 this week. The warm weather caused problems in the Czech republic, and some anxiety at school, as the river rose and rose, and we were in danger of once again not being Riverside school, but River school. The buildings were heavily damaged in 2002, and we were within a few feet of disaster again. At its height, the water was passing through Prague at the rate of 1480 cubic metres a second: that is a 100m running track, a full 7 metres wide and 2 metres high, or enough to fill an olympic swimming pool in a little over 2 seconds. It was astonishing.

Apart from that, Harriet appeared in the Junior School show at a theatre just off Wenceslas Square: she played a scarecrow, and was able to draw on a rich vein of inspiration from somewhere close to home…

We all enjoyed the school's Easter Egg Hunt on 1st April, which will probably be our last foray into the woods until all tick-borne encephalitis jabs have been had: these are nasty little blighters that can render you forever mentally incapable. Mmm I wonder…

And things seem to be progressing with our house purchase, so hopefully we will be installed before we visit dear old blighty in the summer.

February and the rest

2006-03-07T20:40:00.000+01:00

Can't believe it's so long since this was updated. Life seems to have been very busy. After our visitors at New Year there was a bit of a hiatus. Emelia celebrated her 4th birthday (hard to believe), I went on a day's skiing with the school, had a lovely few days with the Cam Allens, and then with the neighbours' friends at half-term (a day skiiing for all the family) although the girls did more skiing in a one hour lesson that Ali and I would have managed in a week.

Ali is now working 1 1/2 days a week at the high school and loving it. Harriet has moved up to year 3 and is happier in her new class.

On the home front, we are making slow, but we hope steady, progress in buying a house:
http://www.judrkren.cz/Foto/F126.jpg
Hopefully we will be in some time before the summer and getting stuck into the work that needs doing (and enjoying not carrying the shopping up 54 steps!)

Well, I am English so I can't avoid talking about the weather. We have had some extremely cold weather - consistently below -10 and at -15 or lower for significant periods - and lots of snow, some of which has lingered, some has gone quickly. In 2006 the weather has peaked above 0 on only a handful of days, but at -3 or so it frequently doesn't feel all that cold to us: it is rarely damp or windy.

Enough of this already. Hope you enjoy this, and please leave your comments as we enjoy reading them.

Nový Rok (New Year)

2006-01-07T13:45:00.000+01:00

Well we've had a lovely new year holiday, with lots of friends from the UK coming to visit, lots of lovely snow and some very cold weather (-6). Sledding down Petřin hill in the very centre of Prague with the Maddens was a real highlight. Fireworks laid on outside our flat on New Year's Eve, with the whole of Prague, it seems, resounding to the sound of pyrotechnics for a good 40 minutes. Then on New Year's Day in the evening, we were in the centre of Prague while the city laid on an incredible display for which every bridge was thronged with people. Simply magical.
And back to school on Monday, with Ali starting to teach 1.5 days too.

Love from Prague,
The Marshalls

Veselé Vánoce

2005-12-25T12:14:00.000+01:00

Well Veselé Vánoce (Merry Christmas) from Prague!
We avoided the fried carp - but we couldn't avoid the smell: the air was thick with the smell of it on Christmas Eve. Like many Europeans, the Czech's big celebration time is the evening of the 24th, when the carp is eaten and the presents opened. Here in Suchdol, there was a carol service right outside our flat in front of the nativity scenes (see pic above). Our children had long since crashed out, unfortunately.

Like good Marshalls they like their sleep, and woke us up at the unearthly hour of 7.45 this morning. Marvellous.

Thinking of you all and dear old blighty as we eat our duck and beef for dinner later. With much love,
Ali, Trev, Hattie and MiMi

Brrr

2005-12-18T20:50:00.000+01:00

My friend Anthony Kerr told me of his visit to India, that you immediately know you are on a different continent, if not world. One of the unusual things about living here is that in many ways it doesn't feel all that different: more like a holiday. Even after a term at school, and all the ways that is different, it still seems terribly normal.

Well the last few days have started to change that for me, at least: we have become accustomed to temperatures that don't struggle above 2˚C, but we have had some very cold temperatures, and some proper snow - about 6 inches in the last 2-3 days.

It's been an interesting week for me at school: the choir (where I was one of only two male voices) sang with the school ensemble. First of all in Stáromětské Náměstí (Old Town Square), and then at Radio Free Europe. The first occasion was all charm, (see the picture above) and one of those times when I wonder if this is happening to me: for the last 11 years it has been Little Donkey in Cam House Gym, now it is the most beautiful square, in possibly Europe’s most beautiful city.

The second was borderline surreal: RFL is a CIA funded operation that used to broadcast to the Communist East of Europe. In gratitude they were allowed to use the former Czechoslovakian parliament building rent free. They now concentrate on countries such as Iran for their broadcasts: consequently the building is surrounded by concrete barriers (although the tanks that were there a couple of years ago have gone) and guarded by machine-pistol-toting Policie. Difficult enough to get people through the security (I was singled out twice – thank goodness they didn’t see my residency permit with the photograph of me looking like a Bader Meinhof terrorist), but when the van full of instruments (including the one in a violin-shaped case…) arrived, it became quite tiresome.

We were billeted for the afternoon in the very chamber where the Czechoslovakian parliament used to meet, complete with electronic scoreboards. Quite a place to be.

Now we look forward to Christmas. Most of our English speaking teaching colleagues have fled for the old countries – US, UK, South Africa, Canada – leaving a few stalwarts (well, us, actually). Do we, I keep asking myself, go for the fried carp traditional Czech Christmas dish. I am dissuaded by a complete lack of success in finding a non-Czech who likes it. Traditionally it is bought live from the market and transported home, where it is kept alive in the bath until Christmas eve, then killed and prepared. We are leaning, we think, towards getting hold of some wild boar (it was pretty wild when I shot it, etc).

Enough of this.

Fancy Dress

2005-12-05T20:36:00.000+01:00

Today was book day in the Primary School, with all the children dressing up as characters from Fairy Tales. Harriet went as an ugly sister, and Emelia as Gretel (or Hansel - I was never too hot on these things). Today is also quite a big day in the Czech Republic - Mikuláš day, when people go around dressed as Mikuláš = St Nicholas = Anděl = an angel = and čert = a devil. You can get the full story at http://www.expats.cz/prague/article/czech-culture/prague-mikulas/.

Snow again

2005-12-03T18:32:00.000+01:00

For the 3rd weekend in a row, we have snow. This time it looks more serious, as the temp has hardly risen above freezing for the week. This is a picture of the Náměstí outside our flat, with its floodlit nativity scenes and tree lights. Very festive.

Thanks for the comments on the blog - it's good to hear from you all.

T

Harriet is Seven!

2005-11-29T22:25:00.000+01:00

Some pictures of Harriet on her 7th Birthday. Lovely for her that her grandparents were able to be there with her.

Our first blog - life in Prague

2005-11-29T22:22:00.000+01:00

This is just a way of letting people who want to know, how things are going here with us. I am conscious that I am slow replying to emails sometimes because I want to tell people all the things that have gone on, but this makes many lengthy emails.
I also don't want to bombard people with emails about things, stuffing up their bandwidth with our photos.
So here's the answer - one email to tell you this blog exists, then you choose whether to look or not.
Hope you enjoy.