April 12, 2009 - Week 26

We have had great temperatures here in Czech...80's each day. They say it is the warmest April in 50 years. I enjoyed working outside on my parent's deck in the sun. I biked twice on their stationery bike in the basement and swam in the little pool. I usually spend the afternoon working from 3-11 pm when Des Moines is online. It is great to have your own schedule. I went to visit both my Grandmas and Grandpa.
Everyone was looking forward to Easter because almost the whole Czech side of the family got together. We drove on Friday morning to the south of the Czech Republic (very close to the Austrian border) and the town of Strachotin. My cousin Eva, who studies in France right now, came with her boyfriend Pavel. Another cousin Marta came from Germany with her 16 month old son Roman . My brother Jirka flew in from London and my Aunt Ruzka flew in from India. My cousin Radek with girlfriend Zaneta came from Prague and then my parents and Aunt Inka and Karel came from my hometown. It was great to see everyone! I enjoyed the conversation and the time together in the true "wine country". We literally slept above the wine cellar and some of us tasted the wine numerous times. I was the designated driver. We could not have better weather so some of us did some biking and the rest did some hiking to the castle ruins from the 16th century where we enjoyed a beautiful panorama of the surrounding villages. We also enjoyed home cooked traditional meals such as dumplings with pork and cabbage, goulash soup, schnitzel with potato salad, and of course great sweets.

Mame tady v ceske zemi nadherne pocasi, kolem 25 stupnu skoro kazdy den. Rika se, ze tento duben je nejteplejsi za poslednich 50. let. Rada jsem si zacvicila na slunicku na terase u rodicu. Dvakrat jsem si take zaslapala na kole a zaplavala v bazenku. Obvykle pracuji od 15-23 hod, kdyz Des Moines je na siti. Je super mit svuj vlastni rozvrh. Navstivila jsem take obe babicky a dedu.
Vsichni se tesili na Velikonoce, protoze se skoro cela ceska strana rodiny sesla. V patek rano jsme vyjeli na jih do Strachotina. Moje sestrenice Eva, ktera je nyni ve Francii prijela s pritelem Pavlem, dalsi sestrenice Marta s 16ti mesicnim synem Romankem prijeli z Nemecka, muj bratr Jirka priletel z Londyna, moje teta Ruzka priletela z Indie, muj bratranec Radek prijel s pritelkyni Zanetou z Prahy a potom moji rodice a teta Inka se strycem Karlem od nas doma. Bylo to uzasne je zase vsechny videt! Uzivala jsem si pritomnosti vsech a povidani v te prave "vinne oblasti". Doslovne jsme spali nad sklepem a nekteri nespocetnekrat kostovali ruzna vina. Ja jsem prevzala povolani ridice. Nemohli jsme si prat krasnejsi pocasi, tak nekteri take jezdili na kolach a ostatni se prosli ke zricenine hradu ze 16. stoleti, kde jsme si uzivali krasneho vyhledu na vesnicky. Take jsme si uzivali domacich navarenych jidel jako vepro, knedlo, zelo, gulasovou polevku a rizky s bramborovym salatem a nemohlo chybet velice dobre cukrovi.