Easter

Easter in the Czech Republic is like no other place in the world. Well, that is until Mankato, Minnesota adopts some of the finer traditions beginning next spring.

The kids had off from school last Thursday, Friday, and this Monday. Their presence was a nice reminder that it was a special time. It helped me think about the events of the Thursday (Christ's last passover with the Apostles, His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane) and Friday (His trial and death by crucifixion).

Then on Saturday, we made a little pilgrimage. Twenty kilometers from Ceske Budejovice lies the village of Řimov (Little Rome). Along a trail some five kilometers long, they have 25 little chapels that depict the events from the Last Supper through the resurrection. Constructed in the second half of the 17th and early 18th century, each chapel contains paintings or statues or, unfortunately, large photographs of the statues that have been removed from the chapels so they don't get stolen. Below are some of my photos, but there are really good ones on this site.

Jesus Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. From Easter	While his disciples slept. From Easter
Jesus carrying his cross to Calvary. From Easter	While the women of Jerusalem wept. From Easter

The pilgrimage ended at the church in Řimov. This is about the most interesting church I have ever been in. When you go through the doors you enter a courtyard. There is the outer wall and a ceiling that extends inward some 15 feet, but then it is open to the courtyard. The walls around, the ceiling, and the columns holding it up are covered in paintings of the saints and with statues. There are confession booths along some walls and the little chapels in the corners. But it's all open air. In the middle is a very small building. Inside is a chapel that was made to hold maybe 10 people. It was a striking mix of simple (being open like it was) and ornate.

Church on Sunday was great, as you know it's going to be on Easter. There were some special musical numbers, great hymns that we only get to sing at this time of year, and bearing of testimonies.

For the Czechs in general, Easter is really all about the festivities of Easter Monday. Prior to this special day, men and boys go out to the woods and cut suckers from willow trees to weave them together into pomlazky - flexible willow switches decorated with brightly colored ribbons. You can also buy them at the market, like we did. During the morning hours on Easter Monday, the males roam around town, visiting friends and relatives. Using their pomlazky they gently swat the females on the bum while singing:

In Czech:	Translated:
Hody. Hody. Doprovody. Dej nam vejce malovani. Nedaš-li nam malovani. Dej nam aspon bily. Slepička za to snese jiny.	Revel. Revel. Entourages. Give us colored eggs. If you don't give us colored Give us at least white The Hen will give you others.

The female then thanks the swatter by giving him an egg she colored.
Now, hang on there, before you get all excited about it being sexist and unfair, you need to understand that this annual switching makes the girls beautiful and fruitful. Girls and women look forward to this event even more than the men do. What's more, walk down the street of any city in this country and you'll see that it works to make the women hezky (beautiful).

Afternoon, it's the girls' turn. They throw cold water on the boys.

This tradition goes way back in Czech culture. So, how did the Picha-Harff's do in adopting it? Well...

Silas couldn't hardly wait for the big day. He got up on Easter Sunday ready to go at it, so we reminded him it wasn't Monday. He swatted his mother, friends, and older women from church - they thought he was adorable. Caleb felt weird about the whole thing and only barely participated in swatting his mother and the Tučkovi girls. I jumped in with both feet and plan to make myself a pomlazky next spring and keep up the tradition.

Silas swatting the Tučkovi girls. From Easter	Caleb, coolly swatting the same hezky houlky. From Easter

Lucy had resisted coming to the Czech Republic out of fear for Easter Monday. I don't get it, but she was super opposed to being made beautiful and fruitful. None of us got to swat her, except one of the missionaries, in the middle of swatting Kristine, switched over to Lucy. She was not amused (I thought I got a photo of her expression - she may have deleted it).

Our pomlazky and eggs and bread from the Tučkovi. From Easter

Kristine was a perfect Czech girl. She was delighted at the swatting, allowing family and missionaries to take part. Then, come afternoon, she devised a plot to pour water on the missionaries. We invited them over for a special Easter treat. We arranged for them to come at 4:30. Right on the nose, the buzzer chimed. Kristine dashed to the window where she had her watering can, fully loaded, waiting. She threw open the sash and rained Easter greetings down on...our neighbor! The painfully shy, middle-aged, single engineer that lives below us and has never said more than four words to us looked up to see a stream of water rushing toward him. Meanwhile, the buzzer chimed again. I opened our door and there stood the missionaries. It turns out they had buzzed, but then the neighbor let them in as he was leaving. All's well that ends well though. Kristine wrote a note of apology, which he graciously accepted in a return note. And, Kristine was able to still get the missionaries wet as they left.

Kristine and Silas surveying the effectiveness of her attack on the missionaries. From Easter

- Peter

Lucy and Morena and the Swedes

Happy Birthday to her.
Happy Birthday to her.
Happy Birthday Dear Lucy.
Happy Birthday to her.

She's 11 now. April 4th being the first Sunday of the month, it was fast day (we don't get the Church General Conference until next Sunday) and Lucy thought the idea of a party with no food and a hunger-weakened family sounded lame. Therefore we celebrated on Friday. We had svičkova (roast beef with a creamy vegetable gravy), homemade dumplings, and a cheesecake with M&Ms and chocolate sauce. Then, she and her friend, Johanka, watched a movie and hung out until late.

Living here with Lucy has been an interesting experience for us all. She was a reluctant traveler, preferring to stay in Minnesota, but we dragged her along. It's growing on her though. She's got some friends and enjoys the food. While she knows a lot of words in Czech, the grammar makes forming complete sentences difficult. Another difficulty has been living in tight quarters. We've had our challenges trying to get through the winter in the apartment here, but I think we are all learning to get along better.

Lucy got some Hannah Montana things for her birthday and taped several pictures up on her door. Silas followed suit on his door. When Kristine found him, he had a 2" wide roll of masking tape, a scissors, and a lot of determination as he stuck tape all over the picture to attach it to the very lowest section of the door. Kristine helped him get it higher and less entombed in tape.

Lucy's door plastered with Hannah Montana and friends.	Silas' door with Hanna Tanna. From 2010-04

Two weeks ago we celebrated another annual event, the coming of spring. We joined a group of people from the Waldorf school in Ceske Budejovice to burn an effigy of the winter witch, Morena, and throw her into the river which symbolizes spring's victory over winter. With it they chant a little rhyme that goes like this...
 „V ten čas sněhů a ledu, dlouhých soumraků a nocí vládla Mořena, až bůh Slunce počal déle, vlídněji a tepleji hleděti na tvář země. I rozbíhala se vodou ledová pouta; veselili se po všech dědinách, po všem plemeni. Za zpěvu brali se k vodám, k volným téd' potokům, řekám, házeli do nich obraz zimy a smrti a radostným hlaholem vítali Vesnu, líbeznou bohyni jara.“
The Google Translate program (which does this in an instant, but would take me an hour) translates it as...
 "At that time the snow and ice, long nights and twilight reigned Morena, the sun god began to longer and warmer look more kindly on the face of the earth. Even the ambitious commitments on climate ice water bonds, making merry after all breed. Singing, he came to water, to free now streams, rivers and threw them into the image of winter and death and a joyful shout was greeted Vesna, sweet goddess of spring."

Procession to the river to burn Morena.	The crowd gathered along the river for the drowning of Morena. From 2010-03

Here's a video of the lighting...

From 2010-03

It was also our pleasure to receive a visit from our friends Kim, Peter, Felicia, and Lukas Johansson, formerly of Mankato, Minnesota, now of Mariestad, Sweden. They drove to the North Sea, took a ferry, then drove across Poland to come see us. We spent a day and a half together, talking, eating, and, what else, visiting Divci Kamen. They taught us Swedish, we taught them Czech. It was great seeing them again and we look forward to their visit to Minnesota this summer.

Lukas	Felicia
Pete	I don't have Kim, but here are the kids making Swedish chocolate balls.

Spring is here, time is short, and we're starting to get busy now. We'll try to keep the posts timely and short.

Peter

Joblessness

Today I thought I would share a few thoughts about joblessness. Specifically, my own.

Despite a personal belief that progress as a civilization should mean we have more time for non-work pursuits (e.g. arts, sports, building relationships, gardening), I had the opportunity to become somewhat of a workaholic last year. It was great. I received rewards both financial and ego-building. I didn't have to deal with any problems at home. And best of all, in a society where we place so much value on the number of hours a person works (regardless of their productivity), I got to hold my head high in all but the most unbalanced circles.

I wasn't looking forward to walking away from all that. I'd experienced unemployment before. We spent a month in Czechoslovakia as newlyweds and it got to the point that I was pleading with Czech grandmas to let me do the dishes. It just doesn't feel good to be without something that needs to get done. So, I boarded the plane for my nine month vacation with a fair amount of trepidation.

Well, it didn't take me long to forget all about work. Our first six weeks here were packed so full of day trips, long bike rides, and struggles just to buy groceries that there was no time to miss work. I was having so much fun that when I did think about work, it was only to try and figure out how to never go back to my job again.

Then it got chilly. It's one thing being a stay at home dad when you can go roving over the countryside with your three year old, but when you're stuck inside all day, it gets much harder. This may sound like I'm only trying to win points with my wife, but, truly, when you consider the difficulty of working with children and the rewards employment offers, it's easier to do my engineering job well than it is to be a professional parent. Plus, Kristine is better at it.


I wasn't completely without work during this time. While working on the first draft of my book, I was up at 5:00 a.m. (or earlier when the ideas were just burning in me) six days a week. Some days I was able to get in six hours at the keyboard. If you include time thinking about the story while walking along the river, and time spent reading (an important part of becoming a writer), I was easily putting in a full day's work. I tell you, this is the job for me. There's just one problem. I'm no good at it yet. But I've never let that stop me from doing things.

So, in eight short weeks I'll be back at Mn/DOT doing whatever it is that I do for a job. But between now and then I'm gonna live my life of independent wealthiness to the fullest.

Peter Harff, M.S., P.E., W.B.W

A brief update

It's probably time for a little update. Here's a quick rundown of happenings in the last two or three weeks.

After returning from Prague, ours was the pleasure of relishing a whole week without school. To make matters even better, it was springlike that week.  Lucy read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Unfortunately, when she goes through books like that in three days it makes it tough to keep her supplied with reading material. Caleb played World of Warcraft so he could reach level 80 (the highest until the new expansion set comes out this fall). Despite his most valiant efforts, he was still level 79 as of lights out last night. Silas did Silasy things - either being really cute or really boogery, but very little in between. We finished reading aloud Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman, so I was obsessing about how to bike from here to the Alps and climb Grosser Priel with no special equipment in early May and return all in four days. It's not possible. The book also inspired us to do some scurrying up and down bluffs in Dobra Voda and take a hike up Kluk in the slushy snow.

Atop Kluk. From 2010-02

We also spent some time hanging out and telling stories...

From 2010-02

And Kristine? She and I took a trip to the Czech Foreign Police to turn in paperwork declaring that we are starting a new 180 day time period in which we can stay in the Schengen Territory for a total of 90 days, which 90 days ends on May 20th - the day we fly out. A different fellow worked with us that day, a champion paintballer. Although trembling on the inside, Kristine maintained a cool exterior as she provided the information he requested. At one point he told us that a new law required us to carry medical insurance from a company that has an office in the Czech Republic. This pertains to foreigners here on a visa, except now as officially tourists once again, it didn't apply to us. Do you risk telling this man he's wrong and make him lose face while he has the power to make our lives difficult? The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife as she pointed out the correct information to him. "You're right," he nodded after a moment of consideration and went on stamping our passports. That's it, no more visits to the Czech Foreign Police.

Also, our clothes washer started flooding water one night and then several times thereafter, so babysitting the washer became a favorite activity.

Watching the Washer. From 2010-02	Atop Kluk. From 2010-02

Kristine turned 40 on March 1st. You wouldn't know it.

Winter returned with subfreezing (barely) temperatures and snow. It's made for the most gorgeous running in the mornings.

Last weekend, Kristine took a four-and-a-half hour train ride to a church women's conference for members in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. She met up with several women she met 18 years ago who are now raising families,too.  She listened to lectures from church leaders flown in from Scotland and loved their thick brogue She also sang in the Czech women's choir.  She ate excellent food and had stimulating conversation.  She received what she considers a huge compliment--as she was chatting with a young woman in the train, the stranger asked if Kristine was Polish.  This also happened to her several times toward the end of her mission as her accent improved from American to sounding more Eastern European.

Meanwhile, back at home, Caleb took a bus after school one day to the country place of his friend Jiři near the village Řimov. It's great that he's able to get around on his own and speak well enough to have good interactions. And we like Jiři. From Caleb's first day of school he has been very helpful. Lucy had a friend, Alžbeta, over this week, too.

We finally caught a live hockey game. Hockey is the favorite sport here so there was a lot of energy packed into Budvar Arena to watch HC Mountfield in their last game of the regular season against the Liberec White Tigers. After watching Olympic hockey on the internet, it was great to actually see the whole sheet of ice, feel the boards quake during hard checks and join in the roar of the crowd when our guys scored. The game even went into over time and we lost.

Then, last Saturday, just as we were gearing up for Kristine to return we had a problem. Our water heater doesn't produce hot water. In fact, we are happy when it comes out warm. So, to wash dishes and bathe, we heat up water on the stove. Lucy did just that. As she was carrying the pot to the tub, though, some spilled on her foot. That caused her to lurch, spilling nearly boiling hot water on her hand. She ran water on it for a long time, but it blistered up really bad. We called our friend Aleš (kind of a recurring theme isn't it) and he checked her out.

And finally, Kristine and Caleb went to the temple in Freiberg, Germany. While serving there Kristine never knew whether to speak English, German or Czech when approaching a person. A large majority of the members there that day spoke at least two of those languages.  It was neat for her to listen to the ceremonies in foreign tongues.

Trip to the Golden City

We spent this past weekend in the capital, Prague. This beautiful city, founded in 885 A.D. is also known as: The Golden City, and The City of a Hundred Spires, and The Mother of Cities. None of these nicknames does it justice.

We don't make it to Prague as much as we would like.  It's a two-hour forty-minute train ride. So, to make it worthwhile, we either need to leave early and stay late or spend the night. For this trip we did both, leaving home at 6:30 Saturday morning, spending the night at a friend's apartment, then getting home around 8:00 p.m. on Sunday (I know it's not that late).

It's fun to get around in Prague. At the train station, they announce arrivals and departures with the first four notes from one of the movements of Ma Vlast by the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana. Within the city we traveled by bus, trolley, and, my favorite, the Metro (subway). I dig the long escalator, the peculiar smell, and the rushing wind as the train approaches in the tunnel. Traveling below ground, however, makes it tough to get a sense as to how the various parts of the city fit together.

Escalator down into the Metro.	The Metro.	A Trolley. From Prague

The first place we went was Prague Castle. A person really ought to spend a couple of days there, we spent part of an afternoon. Here are some photos...

Prague Castle from across the Vltava River. From Prague

The central element of Prague Castle is the Saint Vitus Cathedral. It is a Gothic church with the most amazing detailing outside and in. It also contains the tombs of many Czech kings and priests.

Front door of St. Vitus.	Above the front door.	One of the many statues on the exterior.

We also went into the best preserved Romanesque building in the Czech Republic, Saint George Basilica. It is both austere and beautiful.

Relief over the one of the doors of Saint George.	The Basilica from behind, the different elevations looked cool.

Golden Lane is a narrow street with tiny buildings that were once the home of alchemists and Franz Kafka. One of the buildings has a collection of armor and weapons that made Caleb drool.

Looking down an alleyway.	Silas at the stairs to the armor and weapon museum.	The buildings of Golden Lane.

We finished our tour of Prague Castle with a visit to a dungeon named Daliborka.  Its first occupant back in 1498 was a young lord, Dalibor, who sympathized with the plight of  his cruel neighbor's serfs and encouraged them to revolt. Captured and imprisoned in the new tower, he used his last few coins from which he should have purchased food from the guards, and instead bought a violin. Czechs say that misery taught him to play. Townspeople would gather beneath the tower to listen to his sad melodies and in return would send food up to him. One night the crowds gathered to listen, yet the music never came.  They later learned he had been executed that morning.  Some say that occasionally one can still hear the faint strains of a haunted violin coming from that tower.  (We tried to convince Caleb to play his violin there in the shadows some night and freak people out.)

After the visit to Prague Castle we ate at a smoky restaurant/bar, because our thirteen-year old bottomless pit was getting desperate for food and there was no time to be choosy (not a highlight of the trip), but then had dessert at a fancy sugar shop which has been in business since 1905. It was nice.

Chandelier in fancy sugar shop. Neat thing...they had a photo of the place from the early 20th Century. The interior has been updated, but elements of the old design were carried artfully into the new. (Photo by Lucy)	Lucy with her treat.

On our way home we went past the statue of Saint Wenceslaus (as in "Good King Wenceslaus looked out on the feast of Stephen...")and I snapped this photo...

On Sunday morning we visited the Prague LDS congregation. We got to see a couple of familiar faces and met some new people. Kristine and Silas stayed at church for the children's Sunday School, while Caleb, Lucy and I went to the Jewish Quarter. We visited the Pinkas Synagogue where the names of some 80,000 Bohemian and Moravian Jews killed by the Nazis are inscribed on the walls. The Jews were confined to this ghetto for much of their 1000 years of residence in Prague. We walked through the cemetery where, because of lack of space for traditional burials, some people were buried 12 deep. The proximity of the gravestones to each other has an ethereal quality.  We didn't get a photo of this, but we highly encourage you to click on the link so you can see photos.  Finally, we went to the dazzling Spanish Synagogue where there is a display of Jewish history in the region during the 19th Century - a time when reforms allowed more freedoms for Jews and Czechs were asserting their national identity. We didn't got into the Old-New Synagogue - the final resting place of the Golem of Prague. This part of our trip was one of Caleb's favorites.

We met back up on the Old Town Square. There was a fair going on and the square is surrounded by some of the most magnificent structures in the city.

Church.	Some old building.	Jan Hus statue (notice statues on buildings in background).

Old City Hall.	Cheese vendor's display (photo by Lucy).	Clock on old town hall (photo by Lucy).

We walked down to Charles Bridge, probably the most iconic place in all of Prague. Seeing the statues on this old stone bridge would be worth the price of a plane ticket. We walked through part of the city below Prague Castle. We saw a man in armor with a sword. Silas asked "what is he doing?" Kristine told him that he is probably just trying to drum up business for this tower you can climb. Silas didn't care for that pragmatic answer and instead informed her that "he is defending his tower from bad guys."

Crossing a bridge over a little arm of the Vltava River, we came across this fence with all these locks attached to the bars. They all have the names of a couple on them. Apparently, lovers put their names on the locks and attach them there as a symbol of their affection. In the water below....dozens of shiny keys thrown away.

Fence with lover locks.

We came home inspired and reminded why we wanted to come to this place so rich in history.

Peter & Kristine

What Tribe Are We?

I went running with Aleš this morning. It was beautiful. It's now light enough at 6:30 to see where we are going. I mentioned to him that Torah Bright won the gold medal in snowboarding last night. He said to me, "She's one of the tribe you know."

He was referring to the Mormon tribe as discussed in an article entitled "Mormon 'tribe' feels like home" in the Mormon Times by Orson Scott Card. The gist of it is something that Mormons recognize and take comfort in - the fact that no matter where we go in the world, we have brothers and sisters with whom we share a bond of common beliefs. So whether it's inviting the visiting geology student with dreadlocks that you never met before over for dinner after church on Sunday or cheering for a daring, young snowboarder, we kind of stick together.

That got me a thinking about watching the Olympics and the athletes for whom we cheer.

Of course we cheer for the Americans because we share a nationality with them. And, with a country as big and affluent as the U.S., there is always something for which to cheer. Going back, we can all remember when the U.S. Hockey team beat the Soviets in Lake Placid, NY in 1980. Or, yet farther back, seeing video of Jessie Owens winning at the Summer Olympics in Berlin in 1936. It's funny how victory seems all the more sweet when there's ideology on the line.

Being from Minnesota, we feel a little closer to those athletes who grew up just down the road from us. It's been fun to watch curling since the men and women are almost exclusively from Minnesota or Wisconsin. Hearkening back again to 1980, lots of those hockey players and the great Herb Brooks were Golden Gophers. Curling, hockey, wrestling - that's where you're most likely to see our folks shining.

Canada - as Minnesotans we are culturally and linguistically much closer to Canadians than we are to New Yorkers or Californians. When I was on my mission, missionaries from out west used to comment on my accent and think I was Canadian. I've always had an affinity for our neighbors to the north. I think I just respect them for how hard life must be up there. Plus, they are clean and polite. I have to admit a certain amount of pride at receiving a single vote to become Prime Minister of Canada once (thanks Ginny). So, when the Canadians play (as long as it's not against the U.S.) I cheer for them.

Well, you knew this one was coming. Little by little we become more and more Czech as we live here. Beyond that there is the fact that Kristine's ancestry, through her father, is Czech. Genetically, she and the kids are Czech. So, when the Czech hockey team with the great Jaromir Jagr plays or when Martina Sáblíková skates, we go wild. Especially because Martinka (as we affectionately call her) started out skating on ponds, just like Minnesota kids used to start playing hockey. With a population of only 10 million, they're holding their own with two medals so far (still more impressive is that Slovakia, with only has half as many people, also have two medals).

You don't hear a lot about Argentina during the Winter Olympics. As the country grows wealthier, though, I expect we'll someday see some downhill skiers come out of the Andes Mountains. Still, whenever I see any good news from Argentina, it is pleasing. To some degree the same holds true for any Spanish speaking country. So, if it seems that I respond defensively to people who would discriminate against Latinos, it's because they are my hermanos.

Which brings us to the question of to which tribe we belong. As we get older and have more dealings with people from different backgrounds, we realize the vast majority of us share a basic set of beliefs and dream similar dreams. So we start to feel connected to people regardless of arbitrary political divisions, minuscule genetic variations, or mother tongue and our tribe expands to include all those who love freedom, all those who promote tolerance, all those who believe in kindness.

The great chief of the Mormon tribe, Joseph Smith, put it this way:


"We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."

Enjoy the Games!

Peter