Magical Prague!

I'm back, and soooo dying! I don't know why losing time is so hard on the body, gaining time was amazing! So yes, I'll probably sound super delusional in this letter, but what can you do. I WENT TO PRAGUE!!! Where to even begin? I wish I had taken notes the whole time I was there. And so much happened before Prague, what with zone conference and all, so lots to tell.

Okay, so we made our way up to Peter again. A transporter (no joke, straight from the movie, in a nice car and everything, we didn't even have to pay him cuz it "was all handled" already), so yea, a transporter picked me up after the elders and got us to the airport. We took a SUPER small airplane, like totally intimate, and we flew to PRAGUE!

We first met up with a woman waiting for us with a sign, and she escorted us to our hotel with another group of missionaries we knew in the mtc who are all serving in Moscow. Our hotel was way nice, and I had my own room, of course. Well, we just dropped our stuff and ran, cuz, well, we were in PRAGUE! Haha

Let me tell you a few things about Prague....It's the most beautiful city I've ever seen, hands down. It was magic. Beautiful castles and cathedrals everywhere, ALL the streets are cobblestoned, it's just a fantasyland, I tell you! And it is soooooo CLEAN! There is ZERO garbage on the streets. People don't smoke there. Everyone is so polite and courteous! All the public transport is all done on the honor system, like nobody collects money for anything, and people still paid the machines. Everything was super high class and just all around amazing. Basically, you just have to go and experience it. I am being completely honest when I say, I really hope I can live there at some point in my life.

Everyone there knows at LEAST two languages, so chances are you can talk to anybody on the street. Everyone is so nice, so they all want to talk. (SO diff from Russia! I still love Russia tho.) It's a huge melting pot of every culture. The shopping is amazing, they had the greatest stores EVER, and I was stuck with a group of elders...hahaha! But we had a rad time together. They gave me two minutes in H&M, which I loved, but it was torture not buying anything! I did buy a cute shirt on the street that says 'Prague' and has the city, I love it. Yes, I am a tourist...haha. I also bought a RAD ring and a super cute scarf.

We went into one of the shops and the woman working there spotted me as American right away. So she said hello in English. but she asked me if I spoke Russian because she saw my tag. I launched into Russian, and we had a grand old time chatting it up. She sold me my shirt and scarf and gave me a major discount, cuz she loved me. It was just so weird, I was in a foreign country still, so I felt like I need to speak the foreign language I knew, it was just weird how I was more confident speaking Russian than English. haha crazy.

What else about this amazing city?...It's so safe! You just feel insanely secure at all times, I can't explain it. And I loved my mtc group I got to see, they were so fun, I just will love them all forever. Can I just say, McDonalds really does own the world. They were on every block there. They sell absinthe all over the city! CRAZY! But I guess it is Bohemia, so yea. And, Praguish men are GORGEOUS, just fyi. Not that I was looking.

There was a businessman I asked where a good place would be to eat and he sent us to this really fun pub, but he automatically asked me if I was from CA! I was like, how did you know?! He wasn't even from America! He told me it was just obvious, haha. Weird. PS, I read the newspaper on the airplane, the world hates America. No wonder, the things the paper had in it were ridiculous, and totally untrue! What can you do.

Zone conference was RAD! I love our prez and his fam, they're just amazing! It was the best zone conference I’ve ever had. It was the perfect combo of spirituality and humor! We all laughed so much! And yes, it was all in Russian, but I liked it. It's interesting, it's so easy to just be open and joke with President and his wife, but still have SUCH high respect for them. It's so cool. I mass produced no bake cookies for the conference and everyone loved them.

I guess all the missionaries who were coming here from America have been reassigned. Like NO more Americans! It’s so sad, but I feel sooo lucky I got in and had this experience! Oh, I broke my tooth. Ouch. Front and center, lower tho. It's not bad, just a chip, but it hurts, and I was DEVASTATED! Ah, I have no time, but remind me to tell you about the old, fat naked "scary" woman we washed. haha! I love you so much. (written July 18, 2008)