another week has gone by...and we're getting closer to Christmas! Even though there's STILL no snow, the Christmas spirit is coming upon us and i'm getting more and more annoyed with the fact that we still have a week of school! This week is crazy because we have a ton of tests in all kinds of subjects, so i'm not looking forward to that. Pray that i will not procrastinate and will actually study for them! =)

so yeah, i'm trying to think of what happened this week... Oh yeah! On friday Caleb and Tensing (a youth choir here in Frydlant - Caleb plays bass and sings) had their Christmas concert! It was really cool! Caleb sang and played bass on the opening song - Jump by Simple Plan. He did great!

Then on Saturday we went over to the Ellenwoods' house! Mom and dad were going to a birthday party for Mel in Poland, so we hung out and watched movies. We ordered pizza too...yum yum. One thing that us and the Ellenwoods do every year (at least i think every year) is that we exchange Christmas gifts! None of us Pattys had our gifts with us, but the Ellenwoods were gracious enough to forgive us and let us open ours! Claire got some socks and cool boxes from Hayley, Caleb got a cool poster of a saxaphone player for his wall, and i got something really cool from Hannah... I guess she had been talking and figuring out with mom for quite some time something cool, and they accomplished it! As many of you know (or don't know, but now you do know), Switchfoot is my favorite band of all time and Jon Foreman (the singer and guitarist) is a big example to me in a lot of ways. So, mom sneakily took some pictures of me outside a few days ago (I had also asked if she could sometime so it worked perfectly) mostly with my guitar. And what Hannah did was get one of those picture frames with the three spots for pictures, and on the right and left side pictures of me, and in the middle two pictures - one of Switchfoot, and another of Jon! It looks really cool!!! =) I don't know if you completely understood my description, but hopefully you did (if not oh well)! =) Anyway, many thanks especially to Hannah, and some thanks to mom as well! =)

Today I led worship up at the hotel today again. We sang two Christmas songs and two normal worship songs. Then Mom and Katka (some of you may know her...others may not!) had a program ready! It was so elaborate that i won't explain in detail about it, but it was about Mary and what part she played in Jesus' life. They did all kinds of creative thingys and it went great!

So yeah, that's about it! Here are some pictures that mom took of me, hopefully you will be able to see how my hair is awesomely growing out! Doesn't it look awesome??? =) I'm so proud of myself... =) Don't forget to leave a comment! Enjoy!

hello faithful blog readers!

This week has been really full of school work etc so that's why i didn't post on sunday like i normal... And i need to go study soon so this will just be a quick post! (we'll see how it goes)

So yeah! Last Saturday and Sunday i was in Slovakia after a three month period of absence! I went to take Hudson's jeans (which he mysteriously left at my house sometime) over to Dawson so when he goes to visit his family over Christmas he can take them and Hudson won't have cold legs for the winter! (not that they'll get any snow anyway! Ha! Well, actually, we don't have any snow yet either so i shouldn't be the one being mean...sorry dudes and dudettes from Arkansas) =)

So yeah, i hung out for saturday and sunday morning i took a train back home! Then in the evening i led worship at church! It went pretty well, except it was a little hectic at first and i was getting stressed...but in the end it went fine. Next week i'm leading again and i'm going to do some Christmas songs! It'll be fun!

Today (wednesday) was the “Darkness” episode of Exit! It was a really powerful one and very well done. We had a great discussion afterwards too! Oh, and dad was the “mentor” in this episode! So he talked! Go dad! =)

Okay, well that's all that i can think of for now... Oh yeah, for those Switchfoot fans out there, you should be happy to know that they just released the music video for Oh! Gravity. on iTunes! So go check it out, it's awesome! I also just learned to play Awakening from their new album (which releases December 26th!) from live performances taped and put on YouTube! Here are the lyrics and the best version of it! It's an awesome song! (note for Hudson – i can ALMOST sing that high on the chorus – can you go through a few times and tell me if you can??? I'm really curious to know if you can... Probably by the time you get back i'll have practiced enough that i can get the pitch right!)



Awakening

Face down with the LA curbside endings
With the ones and zeros.
Downtown was the perfect place to hide.
The first star that I saw last night was a headlight
Of a man-made sky, but man- made never made our dreams collide,
Collide.

Here we are now with the falling sky and the rain,
We're awakening
Here we are now with our desperate youth and the pain,
We're awakening
Maybe it's called ambition, you've been talking in your sleep
About a dream, we're awakening

Last week found me living for nothing but deadlines,
With my dead beat sky but, this town doesn't look the same tonight
These dreams started singing to me out of nowhere
And in all my life I don't know if I've ever felt so alive,
Alive

I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want a heart that I know is beating,
It's beating,
I'm bleeding
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to live like I know what I'm leaving
I want a heart that I know is beating,
It's beating… it’s beating…
I'm bleeding


 

well! I had quite the weekend! This time Patrick, Jonny and I DID get to Budapest! =) It took about 10 hours of training there and then 10 back, and the whole trip went great.

We stayed in a hostel in the center of Budapest, right by the Christmas Market, Burger King and McDonalds! What more could you want!? =)



so yeah, we got into the Keleti train station at about 11:30 and walked over to our hostel to check in. I went to bed, but Patrick and Jonny scouted out Budapest for about 2 hours. The next morning we got up at 9 and had McDonald's breakfasts. =) Then we walked around town till 12, when we got a little hungry...so then we searched in vain for affordable food for about two hours and eventually found it in Burger King. During the time where we were walking around we saw the churches (they are being restored and cleaned, it's really cool), saw the Danube, walked over the bridge across the Danube, walked up to the citadel (where we got hungry) and walked along the castle walls up on the mountainside. Then we walked back down the mountain and found a Burger King. So overall it was a lot of walking... It was a pain at first but eventually i was concentrating too much on all the beautiful architecture that i forgot about the pain in my legs!

We then returned to our hostel, got our swimsuits, and headed to the bathhouse! We spent two hours there laying around and half-sleeping...it was really relaxing. We left at 5 and went back to our hostel again, and decided to take a nap! =) So we slept for an hour and then walked around a bit. We got some more food, walked over to the Danube, where Jonny took pictures of the bridge, and hung out and talked. Then at 8:30 we slowly made our way over to a Live Jazz Club i had found (on a map)...That was my favorite part of the whole trip! They had a pianist, a drummer, a standup bassist and a woman singer. It was the most fun two hours of sitting i've had in a long time! I wish we had a jazz club around here somewhere! Unfortunately it's not really the Czech kind of thing... I proposed to dad that we should make a jazz club though! Then i could go every day! =)

After Jazz we walked around town a bit, then once the lights on the castle were out, we walked up there and walked along the walls looking out at the lighted city. That was an awesome time too. We talked about politics and musicals for about an hour, then got cold and walked around some more. On the way down from the castle we told jokes, and i almost didn't make it back because i was laughing so hard! =)

At around 1:30 we decided we were tired and went back to the hostel and went to bed. The next morning we woke up at 8 and went to another bathhouse (not as fun as the other one, but really big). Our train left at 2:30 so after three hours we walked back over to the Christmas Market and bought some shishkebabs (don't know if that's how you spell it...oh well) and some Christmas presents. Patrick's headphones had broken the previous day so we spent our remaining time looking for some he could buy, and right before we got to the train station he found some! And i found something extra cool... A Coldplay - Rush of Blood to the Head poster! (for those of you who don't know, it's one of my three most favorite bands) I was so happy!!! They had a really cool Jamiroquai one too but i ran out of money.......... Oh well, something to look for when i go back! =)

We then spent another 10 hours on the train back, most of the time we slept and talked about all kinds of stuff. Overall it was an awesome trip and something i'll remember for a while! Have any of you guys ever been to Budapest? It was especially cool 'cause this is the very dead of the tourist season so it seemed like at times we had whole streets to ourselves! It was crazy how few cars were on the roads!

And then i had to return back to normal life...which wasn't so bad. Today was a good day, but nothing much happened. I'll be back with more info on my very interesting life hopefully on Sunday! =) Don't forget to comment! (by the way I look strange in that picture 'cause we were just in the bathhouse and so my hair was everywhere and i combed it kinda weird =P)

thanksgiving '06!!!



this thanksgiving was great! We met up with our JV family up at Malenovice again, ate lots and lots of good food, played games, and had the best talent show we've ever had!



but, it wasn't the same without the jones family. guys - we really really missed you! to me especially, it really didn't feel like conference and when it ended there wasn't a feeling of "i don't want it to end yet" because you guys weren't there to make it extra special! But we made it and overall it was a lot of fun.



i have a feeling hannah will write more about what happened during conference so if you are itching for a full-on detailed description of the happenings go to http://czhannah.blogspot.com ! =)



During conference Hannah and I led worship two nights for everyone! it was a lot of fun!






And for the talent show I did a really cool song - The Scientist by Coldplay! My mom played along with me on the piano so it turned out great! I'd like to thank two very special people who played a part in me being able to play it - Hudson for teaching it to me during the summer, and Suska for suggesting that i do it! Thanks guys!!! =)



So that's all for now, and here's something I threw together last night! Enjoy! And let me know if you want the full performances of anyone!

hey all! what's up?!

well, this week was pretty fun...well, school wasn't very fun, but come Thursday evening it got really fun and interesting. You see, on Thursday evening I got together with some friends again and we played Risk...it was a ton of fun. Even though I did lose...at least i've learned some lessons for next time!

Then Friday was some holiday so we didn't have school! Of course I slept till 10 (any later and I would feel bad that i have slept too long) and for most of the day just chilled. I don't really remember much from that day...except I spent a lot of time on the computer. Not completely sure what I did though...hmm...oh well! =)

Then on Saturday we took a trip to Ostrava...in our new car!!! =) My mom's dad bought my mom a four wheel drive SUV for the winter and tons of snow; it's awesome!!! On the left there's a picture of it! Dad picked it up in Germany on his way back from the States and drove it a loooong way! Go dad!! Anyway, we went to Hornbach because dad needed to check on something and mom wanted some new plants. Then we drove over to McDonalds and then went to some clothes shops looking for a tie for me...i'll explain all in due time, so don't worry! =)) We also found some nice black pants... And headed home. Okay, now i will explain. Ahem.

Anyway, Patrick (if you've forgotten already, he's the american who I go to school with, also the guy who forgot his passport on our "trip" to Budapest) has been taking ballroom dancing classes since the beginning of the school year. And no, he didn't chose to go, a girl in my class made him because her boyfriend couldn't go with her. So he went, and found out it wasn't as bad as he though, it just takes up a lot of time (two or three classes a week). So on Saturday at 6 was Patrick's group's final performance, and so i got to go to it! So i got all dressed up and met up with some other guys from school and we headed into the big building where it was all taking place at.

I went there thinking this was all a joke, and i thought it was all extremely funny that someone would want to learn something like that. Hehe. My view sure changed by the end of the evening.

Well, to keep it short, I was really blown away. It was really cool! Patrick and my other classmates all did a really good job. They had even invited two pairs of professional dancers who were really sweet. Overall it was probably one of the best experiences i've had in a while. It was fun being so "proper" and not looking weird because everyone else had to be like that as well! =) Anyway, the night has inspired me... Patrick told me that during the end he really started to enjoy it and he might go again next year. So, if all works out (if he goes, if I have time, and if I find someone) I think I would do it. I objected to it this year because I guess i didn't realize that it's a cool thing to know! So we'll see what happens........

Then today (Sunday) I led worship again after a month! It's crazy how fast it's gone by... This Sunday we weren't up at Malenovice, we were back down in Frydlant. But it went really well, even through some complications. After and during I felt that I'm getting better and better. We'll see where God takes me on this!

Well, I have some homework to do for Geography and Caleb wants to get on, so it was great telling all of you about my experiences! Don't forget to comment so i know you're all still alive! Have a great day!

well hello there! it's good to be back again... I skipped a week because I was sick and was home the whole time so there wasn't really much to write about...but stuff has happened since last sunday! So i'll tell you a little about them!

Well, my mom's parents have been with us for the past few weeks, and it's been great. Mom got back on Friday from the States (along with lots and lots of treats...thanks Michelle!!!). So it's great to have her back as well.

On wednesday was Exit 316 again, this episode was "addiction." it was a really good one. our discussion went really well and it was a great evening. a cool note - do you remember me talking about Robin a little while back? Well he accepted Christ a few weeks ago and now is coming to church and it's just really cool! And two more guys accepted Christ in the last week thanks to Exit! It's been really cool to see how the guys have grown in their faith so far, and I can't wait to see what God's got in store for them!

On saturday I took the train over to the Ellenwoods' and called my two very good friends Corrie and Hudson in the States! It was great to talk to them again (or, talk to you again!). Thank goodness for email and phones, otherwise i'd go mad... Hopefully we'll get to talk again, guys!

We had snow for about two days a week ago, but since it's all melted.....i was so sad...I want to go snowboarding again so bad! Aaaaah!!! =)

On friday at our school we had a "poetry and music evening", led by my home room teacher (also my math teacher), who writes poetry. So he asked me, Jonny and Mr. Till and Mrs. Till if we could each do a little musical performance to spice it up a little... So I picked the song "Is It Any Wonder" by Keane, a british rock band. It was fun! I've been really thinking about what song(s) to do at the talent show during JV conference coming up, and I can't figure anything out! If you have any suggestions, leave me a comment! I was thinking of something by Coldplay...but I don't know what! =)

Well, it's getting late so i will end for now... Hope you all are good and enjoyed my latest stories! All for now!

hey! another week has come and gone...and so a blog update must follow! First though, here are some pictures of our family that I promised you!





(By the way I was having a bad hair day that day so I want to reassure you that i am looking much better now! =) Plus the wind was blowing that day...so that didn't help much...)

nothing big happened until thursday...at 8 in the morning half the kids from our school (14 kids to be precise) met and we set off along with 3 teachers and the principal's 10 year-old daughter in two vans to Vienna! The drive was actually pretty nice, Jonny (the young teacher who was going with us to Budapest) drove one van, and so Patrick and I sat up front with him and chatted for most of the ride. Jonny had also burned six CDs with random songs on it, so that was fun to listen to on the way. Along with some Newsboys we also listened to some Irish music, Good Charlotte and anything you could imagine.

Once we arrived at our hostel, which was on the side of a hill with a view of Vienna, we unpacked and met outside. We got on a bus which took us to a metro station and headed into town! The first destination was the...drum roll please...papyrus museum. I have never seen so much old paper in my life. My life is complete! Okay, so seriously, I ran through, tried to decipher some German, headed back out and sat on the steps for about 15 minutes while the teachers (except for Jonny) enjoyed the excitement of decaying paper. =)

After the papyrus we moved on to a little more exciting attractions...but of similar nature. In Vienna there's this HUGE old library with shelves upon shelves of leather-bound books. It was really cool. Reminded me of the library in Beauty and the Beast. They also had statues and huge globes around the place, so that was sweet...

The town center was our next destination, where the huge church is. After a little while we walked towards the metro which happens to be right by...you guessed it...Starbucks!!! We were given the opportunity to take the metro along with the teachers to Schönbrunn, the big palace, but me along with a lot of other guys stayed in Starbucks...it was totally worth it! =) I sipped a Pumpkin Spice Latte and thought of all the people I wish were there with me...It was a lot of fun.

Once it got dark I voted for staying in Starbucks and just chillin' because I was so tired, but the guys convinced me to come to the Prater, the big amusement park in Vienna. I was dozing off in the metro...and barely staggered over to the Prater...but once I got on that roller coaster I was fully awake!!! =) That was a really fun night walking around and going to different Fun Houses and on all kinds of rides. I was so hyper when it was time to leave...but by the time we got back and after getting lost (of course) I was so tired... We were looking out at Vienna and all the cool lights and one girl was talking to me and I was soooo dead...she just kept on talking and I kept on nodding and thinking about going to bed...=)

So that night all the guys except for me were still hyper so they stayed up doing crazy stuff and talking...and I kinda half-dozed off to sleep. Eventually they went to bed and then I could relax. I actually had a good night's sleep. At 8:00 we had breakfast and then set off again. We drove the two vans into the city right by our next destination... The UN headquarters in Vienna! After going through security we followed our guide around and he explained stuff about the United Nations, how the systems work etc. It was pretty fun, until we got to a little theater and we watched this short movie about the UN...almost everyone in our group literally fell asleep during it! And it was only 10 minutes long! =)

After that we went to the market – food everywhere. That was a really cool place. Lots of restaurants, bakeries that make your mouth water, and seafood wherever you turn! Not my kind of food, but for some people it must be heaven! After figuring out that most of the menus were in German and essentially we would have no idea what we would be ordering, me and 3 other guys decided a safer route – Burger King! =) So after having a double cheeseburger with bacon, we went back to Starbucks to hang out. I knew that I would be mad at myself later if I didn't have a frappe. So that's what I did! Before we had to leave and meet up again I bought a very special CD... “Music from the Starbucks Coffehouse!” Lots of jazz, really fun to listen to.

So we met up again and drove back...as usual I was tired and everyone else was wide awake...so I sorta dozed off every once in a while and eventually the others joined me in silence, listening to the rest of Jonny's music mixes.

So overall it was a pretty good trip, don't you think? =) On Saturday I was so tired from walking around for two days that I just stayed home...didn't do hardly anything. But it was fun! On Sunday the time changed...so of course I was up earlier than I had to be. At 2:30 we had worship practice and at 4:00 we had church!

Today, or Monday, was also pretty good. After finishing school at 12:15 I went home, did some work, and at 2 I went up for the hotel for a seminar that's going on now! Today the theme was evolution vs. creationism. It was one of the most interesting things I've ever heard (besides my dad's talks, of course!). At 3:30 I went to my art class and finished one project. At 6:00 we had dinner at the hotel (dumplings with strawberry filling) and later on we watched “The Da Vinci Code.” The reason is because tomorrow the next seminar is on that. The movie was very strange... I hadn't seen it...and if I wasn't going to hear the seminar tomorrow then I probably wouldn't have ever seen it. But I'm really excited for the seminar tomorrow.

Well that's all for now! I will update you as soon as I have more info! If I get the chance I will also put up some pictures from Vienna once I get them from different people! Don't forget to leave a comment and let me know how you are doing!