For All the Barbara's that I Know!!!!

Seen in Prague/Kutna Hora:



A Likeness of St. Barbara

The 'Barbara' Building

In the St. Barbara Church, Kutna Hora

Self-Explanatory!!


Dear Barbaras.....Wish you were here!!!

Kutna Hora Day Trip

Some interesting pictures of our day trip to Kutna Hora, Czech Republic. A charming little village filled with interesting churches (including the bone church) and a silver mine which created the wealth of the city. While here I tried a Czech Republic favorite dish of roast beef and cream sauce, dumplings, cranberries and a dollop of whipped cream on top. Yes, a dollop of whipped cream topping! It was delicious.

Visiting Agencies/Attending Lectures

A great deal of our time as Fulbright Attendees has been to visit agencies and attend lectures. This AM we were guests of the Institute for Research on Totalitarism. This agency has many roles and the one we learned about is how they train teachers and provide classroom resources to allow students to do indepth studies about the role of Communism in the everyday Czech life from it's takeover after WWII until 1989. The classroom resources include primary resource and reenactment video clips for classroom discussion, deliberation and critical thinking actitivies.


Dr. Nicholas Maslowski, one of our Fulbright Hosts is the Czech Republic is escorting us by taxi to the site of the future Catholic Kindergarten.





A view through the gate of the future school grounds.




This afternoon, a small group of us attended the Materska Skola sv. Augustina, which is a private school in the making to meet the need of the growing Kindergarten population (ages 3-6). This site was a former Catholic school which became a convent in the 1960's. Now rebuilding and renovating so that the school population can be served with the goals of building Friendships, Community, Spiritual Values and building for future vocation in the Catholic church. Paster Juan, a transplant from Spain heads up the school which will first meet the needs of Kindergarten and growing in grade level each year up through gymnasiuam (high school).

The Castle Guard

Walking through Prague Castle grounds we saw many of the castle guards either at their posts or on the grounds. I thought that this was an interesting view of two of the guards each standing ready at their posts. Unfortunately, the battery on my camera because exhausted so this was it for pics of Prague Castle.

A Passion for Prague

What could make being in Prague a better experience??? Having two colleagues from school drop by after their Baltic Cruise. Diane Ross and Laura Melhaff were able to join our walking tour of Prague Castle and stayed in Prague for 2 days! Da, da, da, da daaaa....I'm loving it!!! Here we are at a sidewalk cafe, enjoying a soda and some pizza.

A view of one of the towers at the Prague Castle. Fabulous!

As we strolled along we saw many beautiful statues.

Had a great day on Friday, went to a Girl Scout Outdoor camp in the woods and then on to the

caving expedition. This photo was taken at the top of the mountain after we had toured the caves, taking a boat ride out of the caves and a cable car to reach the impressive view at the top. Can you find me in this picture?? Hint: I am wearing sunglasses and in the middle row!! After our caving experiences we headed back to Brno to have the farewell dinner and music at a restaurant at the top of Brno. We saw very panoramic views of the entire community and it was much larger than I had realized from the walking tours we had taken around the town. Good night and good bye Brno, Czech Republic! Na Shledanou!

Another Kind of Mr. Ribbet in the Classroom

Those students who have been in my first grade classes the last few years might be interested or even dismayed at this display for frog study that I happened upon in a classroom in the Czech Republic. The schools here have accomodated us to visit and learn about education in the Czech Republic even though students and staff are away for summer vacation. We toured some very old and newer school buildings and noticed a large similarity to how schooling is administrated in both Hungary and the Czech Republic. I have loved seeing the students artwork and plant life in the hallways and classrooms. In some schools, each student brings a houseplant to school in September and lines it up with what the other students have brought to school. Each student is then responsible for the care and upkeep of the plant during the school year and may take it home or choose to donate it to the school. It seems quite welcoming to see life in the classroom during the summer months....

Lednice Chateau and Minaret

On Wednesday June 21 we had a very busy day of touring schools, a chateau owned by the Lichtenstein aristocracy of central Europe and later toured a wine cellar where we were treated to supper and our own hammered dulcimer orchestra folk concert. The pictures were taken on our hike around the chateau over to the minaret. This area is the most beautifully landscaped of southern Moravian Czech Republic. I almost dreamt I would run into Robin and his merry men (oh wait that is a whole other country) as we hiked the trail through some ancient woods and trees. Every day I have to pinch myself....this really is Europe and I am here!!!

Mendel Museum

My mind flashed back to an ancient filmstrip that I think I viewed at South Junior High School all those years ago concerning Gregor Johann Mendel and his plant experiments to observe genetics. And now I find myself standing in his garden on the site of the Old Brno Basilica. We toured the Mendel Museum to learn about the man, his experiments with plants and bees and how he wasn't particularly considered successful with some of his work during his lifetime. But yet the understanding that he gained about genetics led to further research and learnings well beyond his time.

http://mendel-museum.com/

Old Brno (Minor) Basilica

For our welcome to Brno, Czech Republic we met at the Abbey and Old Brno Basilica. There was a beautiful courtyard area where we socialized and then toured the Abbey and Basilica. Incredible views. Here are some of the outdoor shots as no pictures where allowed inside the Basilica. We were treated to an organ concert accompanied by a soprano, trombone and french horn. Our own Dr. Rodney Lauren ended the concert by playing a few selections on the organ for us....

On the Train to Brno!!!

Saturday--we arrived in Brno, Czech Republic via train ride from Budapest. Our luggage has really grown since we all bought souveniors, resources for our curriculum unit and personal items. Lifting the luggage above the train car seats was assisted by some of the train porters...we were so fortunate that they were there, willing and able. In the photos is a picture of the train across the tracks from our train, and Annamaria--our Fulbright 'mother' getting ready to wave goodbye. We all will greatly miss our visit to Hungary and especially the friendships made with our Budapest hosts and hostesses.

Farewell Supper Cruise

Although it is time to say goodbye to our Fulbright Seminar Friends in Budapest...I can't think of a better way to mark the occasion than to take a supper cruise on the beautiful Danube river.

Here is one fourth of the Fulbright attendees ...Frantzie, Gail , Huong and Rod.

Afarewell picture taken with Dr. Huba Bruckner our Budapest Fulbright Host.

A view from the front of the ship before we depart...Buda is on the left and Pest is on the right.

Returning from the cruise. The food was fabulous, the friendships celebrated and the sunset is spectacular.

The Danube Bend Day Trip

Our journey today started in the Aquincum, the ruins of the Roman town just on the outskirts of Budapest. From the picture, you can see that the ancient roman town was quite extensive. The area is quite beautiful and the ruins are fascinating.




Next we moved on to Szentendre for some sight seeing in the 18th centure town which is still a viable community. We are noticing graffiti everywhere, but this seemed quite interesting.





After a picnic at Annamarie's father's home at the Danube Bend we moved on to Visegrad. This is a view from the Medieval Royal Palace looking down at the kitchen herb garden. This castle had been hidden for years. It was excavated in the 1930's and is a beautiful sight. We also traveled to the Citadel which had incredible views of the Danube Bend area.

Reflections on Hungary

It seems sad that we have only 2 days left of the Hungarian portion of our summer seminar. Tomorrow we will travel to the Danube Bend and Friday we will be finishing up getting resources from Hungary for our curriculum projects. Friday night will be our farewell supper cruise on the Danube. Hungary is a country filled with history, the arts, beautiful people and delicious cuisine. The story of Hungary is one of perserverance through adversity. Pride in citizenry in spite of frequent setbacks and failures. Hungary is a little country, at the crossroads to many who chose conquest of other countries. A country that made decisions, some maybe regrettable but a country that rises to the occasion of longevity of the past, present and future. I have enjoyed learning about the history, culture, cuisine, countryside and especially the educational system of Hungary.

Kerepesi Cemetery

The Kerepesi Cemetery located in Budapest is a burial grounds for those famous Hungarians who have contributed to the history, culture and politics of the country. The grounds are massive, tree lined and the headstones are more like memorial statues. A peaceful, beautiful stroll even if it was 100 degrees outside. Enjoy some of the interesting images that I captured.

The Winnie the Pooh Kindergarten Program

Annamarie, our Fulbright host and the Director of the Winnie the Pooh Kindergarten program. In Hungary, children may attend kindergarten from ages 3-6 as part of the school system. This school houses 8 different classes of varying age Tlevels. The summer program was in session for a few more days before they went on break. We had to be very quiet as the students were settling done for their afternoon nap period just after lunch and a story. Little mattresses were laid out all over the floor as the students lay still, resting.

This is the entry area to the Winnie the Pooh Kindergarten. On the other side of the entry we saw pictures showing the students having a festive celebration of the 20th anniversary of their school.

Now who wouldn't want to go to the Winnie the Pooh Kindergarten program for ages 3-6. Each room has a character from the Winnie the Pooh stories, and this class has chosen 'Heffalumps'. The rooms were charmining with child-sized storage and furniture.




This darling mobile brightened up one of the classrooms. Loved it!

This little fox was made from two gloves. One for the body and the other was stitched together for head and tail. Behind me is the storage holder for the puppets along with the background for a puppet stage. What a lovely school, with animals to study in the hallways and classrooms, everything was child centered and made me want to teach there!!!

District 15--The Mayor's Office

Today we visited with District 15 Mayor Hajdu Laszlo. In addition to the mayoral duties that you might expect, the city district is also responsible for running the area's school district. Mr. Lazlo seemed very well versed about the educational system and we learned about some similarities and also differences between our educational systems by administration design. The bags he holds in his hand contained some gifts that he gave to each of us. A CD pictoral of Budapest and a beautiful book of Budapest.


The second photo shows Mrs. Aadland; as the Mayor of the Moment. Mayor Lazlo offered his chair and I took advantage of being the Mayor of Budapest District 15, if only for a brief Moment..... fame is so fleeting!!!

The final photo is the view out of the window of the district council meeting room. Ah....Budapest!

We toured a age 3-6 Kindergarten Program and then had a lovely lunch with the Mayor, his secretary and the Director of the Kindergarten Program: