In search of dad's kolachi (and other things)

9 October, today we've been in Europe for exactly one month. I think we both agree that it's been the fastest month of our lives, even though the start of the trip feels like forever ago.

We spent a little over two weeks at the hotel for refugees in southern Germany and learned a lot from the experience. Mostly, it was important for us to see first hand who a refugee is. The media is in charge of informing our understanding of this subject and we were surprised to learn a tiny bit of what the real life of a refugee is like, at least for the 20 or so that we lived with. We left mostly with the understanding that people everywhere are simply that: people. It's deeply saddening that so many millions still have to live surrounded by war, famine, totalitarianism, and injustice despite our history with such things.. When will we learn? When will we finally decide that enough blood and tears have been shed and start working toward a peaceful and cooperative world? Unfortunately, we've also learned that everything is more complicated than it seems..

Yet, we travel on in reflection and with hope for our friends and for all of the refugees in the world just trying to make a new home after losing theirs to the ways and whims of violence, greed, and prejudice.

We are now working on what the owner calls a "disorganized small holding." Actually, "owner" was the wrong word because the land that we are on is held cooperatively by one large family all living and maintaining various projects on a few acres at the far eastern edge of the Czech Republic. A few minutes east you're in Poland, and just across the hills is Slovakia. We are amazed by the self-sufficiency and know-how of everyone here. The parents grew up under the oppressive thumb of the Soviet Union, but this history seems only to have made everyone here very capable and smart. We are helping with a few small projects: de-seeding sunflower heads for later use as oil, clearing fields and raised beds, moving wood for winter use..

Before reaching this beautiful place, we spent one week on some more touristy travel. We stayed one night in Salzburg, Austria in a hostel/restaurant located at the top of a bluff overlooking the entire city. We had fun seeing all of the Sound of Music references and really enjoyed the very popular Thursday Market which hosts hundreds of cheese, meat, bread, fruit and vegetable, and craft vendors.

   

 From Salzburg, we used our first bla bla car (an app that makes hitchhiking safe and more feasible for drivers) to get across the country to Vienna. There, we spent the weekend with friends (thanks again, guys!) who showed us some excellent parts of the city, including Naschmarkt (where you can find authentic Turkish falafel four for a euro..yum), the island (created when the engineering Austrians split the Danube), and some incredible vineyards overlooking the great old city.  We were also lucky to be in town for a huge public demonstration for the welcoming of refugees where a number of bands (including Die Toten Hosen, a popular German band that I learned about in high school and Conchita Wurst, who won Eurovision for Austria last year) played free for tens of thousands of people in support of asylum seekers. 

The next morning, we took a bus from Vienna to Prague, where we spent two days in love with the city's old structures and culture. We walked across the Charles Bridge, one if the oldest remaining stone arch bridges in Europe, about 17 times, each jaunt showing us something new either in the surrounding city scape or along the cobblestoned pass. Our favorite moment was discovering a small, smoky restaurant off the tourist path; reminiscent of the good ol' family restaurants in Wiscosnin, we sat at a long wood table sipping Prague's famous Pilsner (from the Czech town of Plzên) and ate some fried camembert cheese, oniony mashed potatoes, and a traditional garlic soup. We also spent much of our time searching for the sweet poppy seed treat of kolachi, a native of the Czech/Polish region, and found a few but none quite as good as the kind Kelly's dad makes from their family recipe. 

And now to work.. It's a chilly morning with a light drizzle and we are contemplating the sheep field in which we must go to clear some old sunflower stalks. As much as we enjoyed the big cities and the freedom to be tourists, we are so much happier here on this disorganized small holding where ducks run free and there's always a comfortable place to return to when the work is finished for the day. 

Thanks for reading! Hugs and love from both of us!