The old Jewish cemetary

This is a picture I took at the old Jewish cemetary in the center of Prague.

Beautiful Prague

I spent last week Monday through Friday in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republik. We went in a whole group - 20 collegues from the legal traineeship I am currently doing as part of the German legal education. I haven’t been anywhere with such a big group of same-aged people in a long time! It felt a lot like school trips – just a lot better.
We flew into Prague on Monday, moved into our hotel rooms and then had a guided tour through the city. Most of us had never been before, even though it is just a one hour flight and supposed to be one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. We walked along the river (Moldau in German), over the famous Charlesbridge and through the “old” part of town. Almost everything in the inner city is old, but the center is called the “old town”. We watched the astronomical clock with its twelve apostles moving every full hour, some churches and passed by the Jewish quarter. Then we had the first dumplings of the week J. The Czech cuisine is strong on meat, kraut and dumplings (bread dumplings, potatoe dumplings, bacon dumplings...). Over the five days we had, I saw a lot of Prague. We had a short legal program spread out through our stay (Parliament, German embassy, law firm), but mainly we could just do what we wanted. So small groups visited different places. I saw the castle with the cathedral. It is beautiful. I loved the inside. I think it is true, that these extremely high church ceilings from the Middle Ages draw your thoughts upwards. They always make me think about the majesty of our God. We also visited a church with frescoes dating back to the 12th century. And of course, Franz Kafka – the famous Czech writer – is everywhere in Prague. Another highlight was a visit to the Jewish quarter right in the middle of the old town. It consists of a handful of synagogues and the old Jewish cemetary which was in use until the 18th century. There are about 12.000 gravestones, but the guess is that approximately 100.000 people are buried there. The Jewish population was forced to bury their dead in layers, cause they did not have permission to expand the cemetary. The ground constantly moves though, so “newer” gravestones sink down and older ones caome up. That is why the cemetary looks so particular. One synagogue is now a memorial for the almost 78.000 Czech Jewish victims of the holocaust. The walls of this synagogue are covered with the names and dates of these victims – all over. This was the most moving experience in Prague.
And of course we had a lot of fun. We toured a brewery (dark strong beer), met in cafes and for dinner with all 21, hung out in a hotel room with everybody and went out to dance. I really enjoyed this time and I think it was very good for us as a group who was not really aquainted before. If you ever have the chance, Prague is well worth a visit!

Off to Prague!

I just wanted to let all of you know that I'll leave for Prague tomorrow until Friday. So probably no posting until Friday. I'm really excited, cause I've never been to Prague and it is supposed to be extremely pretty. I'll share stories and pics when I'm back. I also got a post brewing about keeping our tongue in check, but you have to wait for that one too... :)
Have a blessed week everyone!

Creation declares the glory of the Lord

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handywork.
Day unto day uttereth speech; and night unto night showeth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.
Psalm 19:1-4

I took this picture almost a year ago in Austria on the anual youth group snow retreat. When I'm in the mountains and I look around, I always feel my soul lift in praise to the Creator, our awesome and majestic God!

A belated New Year’s Seven Sevens Meme

Annie tagged me a while ago and it took me a week to do the meme... But I had to think about some of these sevens... And often I figure out plans etc. for the new year after it started anyway. So, here we go: a slightly random and not fully completed meme (just couldn’t come up with enough at some questions)

7 things I want to do in 2006
finish my PhD (I am really fed up with it right now...)
study for my bar exam which will be in 2007
spend quality time with my beloved, my family and my friends
finish my bible in one year from 2005 ... finished everything except some prophets
do more sports
work on my time management and be more diligent
blog more regularly again ;)

7 things I want to do less in 2006
worrying
talk negatively about situations/people (does not happen that often, but still too often imo)
spend too much money on public transportation cause I’m too lazy to ride my bike
spend too much money on cafeteria food cause I’m too tired to make breakfast in the morning
...

7 ways I’m going to be a better wife/mother/friend in 2006
first I need to become a wife and mother ;) – not necessarily in 2006, but sometime in the future
call my friends on a more regular basis
call my friends, even if they never call me... ;)
do things because I know that they make them happy even though I might not enjoy them that much
cook more dinners for my friends
listen and not talk (sometimes I feel like I’m an excessive talker)
have lunch and coffee with a lot of wonderful ladies from my church with whom I don’t get together on a regular basis (if you don’t count service)

7 scripture passages I want to memorize in 2006
Psalm 1
Psalm 19
Psalm 27
Romans 8:1-17
Romans 8:18-27
Romans 8 28-39
and some passage from the gospel of John

7 books I’ve never read that I’m going to read in 2006
probably a whole lot cause I love to read; but I don’t have any definite plans sofar. Here are some authors I want to read:
C.S. Lewis (only read the Narnia Chronicles and Screwtape Letters)
Jonathan Edwards
Thomas Mann, The Buddenbrooks
Helmut Kohl (our former chancellor (1982-1998) published an autobiography about his time as chancellor from 1982-1992; my beloved got it as a gift for Christmas)
books on scrapbooking and altered books ;)
...

7 movies I’ve never seen and I’m going to watch in 2006
The lion, the witch and the wardrobe
The Lord of the Rings III
Harry Potter and the goblet of fire
the Johnny Cash movie
Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei (German movie)
Der Schuh des Manitou (German comedy, not sure if it’s my thing, but my beloved insists I have to watch it)
...

7 people I want to join in
I know we're already a week into 2006 and I don't know who has done this meme already... But anyway I'll tag
Erin
jettybetty
Carol
John and
Laura
Loni
and whoever else is willing to do this meme - just leave a note in the comment box!

What scrapbooking article are you?

You are GLUE!

You are the adhesive that keeps things together.
You go through life helping others. You stick
to people and try to keep people together. You
like it best when you are surrounded by people
and able to help them. But Glue Beware - in
your efforts to keep everyone together and with
you, you sometimes overlook yourself and find
it hard to keep yourself together. Don't
neglect personal time in your overwhelming need
to socialize and help others.


What scrapbooking item are you?
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I really love to scrapbook. Still I consider being glue a little weird... What item are you?