the time has come...first retrospective....

In my head I'd written loads of blogs over the last few months...but actually hadn't got down to putting them on the screen so to speak....only now I'm running out of time and this is going to be start of the end....and my last observations of the cross cultural kind.

In one month's time we will be once again packing up the car and heading off for the Eurotunnel, this time with worldly-wise kids, sad/happy/nervous/excited parents, the guinea pigs and a dog (clutching his own passport)

Am I ready to go back? No.  Will we ever be ready....not sure.  But I do know that I don't want to stay here for the rest of my life, so it's time to go back before secondary school starts.

It was very sad on the kid's last day of school, they assimilated brilliantly, really became active members of their classes, made lots of good friends and did well in all subjects.

When I rang the buzzer for the final time at the school and asked for my children in semi-decent Czech.  I felt proud of myself that at least I've learnt one thing over the last year - how to find my children.  The lady at the reception desk nodded in approval at my Czech as if to say, 'you've come a long way girl', and when I went to say my thank yous and goodbyes she replied, 'it was very difficult for you at first wasn't it?'  Yes it bloody was, those first months were hell, but we smiled and she gave me a hug.

Why is it that only when I'm leaving a) I suddenly feel like I can speak a bit of Czech  b) we've made lots of friends  c) we know tons of neighbours and really feel a sense of community here?  It took such a long time for me, Czechs are sooooo slow at building new relationships.

Now we're slowly packing and meeting up with people for the last time.  I spent this morning back where I started in the financial offices sorting out my social security, self employment licence and trying to undo the mountain of bureaucratic paper trail that follows me around here.

And lordy we came with a lot of junk that we now have to ship back to Blighty...long gone are the simple days of a backpack and passport.

Schools out for summer!

Today is the last day of school.  To say it’s a bit of a shock is an understatement, to say time has flown is a cliché, but come on….have the kids really completed a whole year of school in the Czech Republic?

It feels like only yesterday when their backpacks were laden with pens and pencils, gym kits and loo roll!  We were all suffering first day nerves, it was something completely new for us, and we didn’t understand what on earth was going on  (ok that was just me).

Now I sit here typing this while my son is out the front somewhere playing with his friends, my daughter has a friend around and they are jumping on the trampoline in the sunshine.

They have settled really well and I am so proud of them.

It's also an important day for Czech kids all over the country - not only is today the last day of term and start of summer holidays, but it's also the day they receive their grades. You see children everywhere walking home from school, on the bus, in the parks clutching their precious certificates - knowing that they'll either get a treat from happy parents, or a bollocking for bad marks.   It’s a pretty big thing here.

It’s also been a big thing for us too – the kids have done really well,

 ...and now we have to make some tough choices.

Do we stay in Prague, come back to London, move somewhere else?   Secondary school pulls us back to the UK, and of course family and friends.... but at the moment we’re not ready to pack up things and go back to Blighty.

We're just starting to enjoy ourselves, life is pretty good, I have a great little job, hubby is happy.

Oh, decisions decisions....